The Distance
by WhisperingPetals
Summary: I learned about the war between demons and humans that nearly destroyed the balance of the world before King Enma defeated them. As punishment, the top generals of both worlds were forced to battle another until one remained. A single, fatal wish was the reward. Every 1000 years the souls are reborn into 10 humans and 10 demons. H/OC K/OC OC/OC OC-Centric Slight AU
1. Down The Spirit Hole

I've had many moments where I finally thought it, my obstacle, was over. Gradually, I began to become accustomed to the repetition of the sentence before. I hadn't noticed, however, that it was hurting me each time. It finally came to the point where I couldn't take it. I exploded.

And I became someone I didn't now. Someone who was dead. I was becoming a dying firefly; somehow alive with its light, but so close to its end. All the emotions I kept bottled up over the years sprang forward. They stretched from my earliest years to who I was at the time.

It was so painful. Even more painful that any physical injury I had obtained prior to. More than the time I had a sword's blade stuck through my chest, and even when my body had been completely broken, or even when I had a whole demon fist punched through my chest. These things happened because of something that was completely unrelated to me; as most things will, you'll find out later. There was one thing that I had always upheld in the right.

I hated the distance I traveled...

But...

I also thanked whoever gave me it. I can't tell you everything I've been through now or even where I am, but you'll find out for yourself soon enough. It started on that day two years ago.

(STOP-put this link in another page: watch?v=jKXYcxM4I2U&feature=related

Ignore the "Inuyasha"

NOTE- I will ask you to play an opening and ending for every chapter; openings will change every Act and Endings will change ever Arc. P.S WAIT TILL THE SONG IS OVER TO CONTINUE READING!)

**Erine**

Everything started out normal. As usual, I was late for school, which was on purpose 99% of the time. I could have cared less about that textbook hell. All school ever really was was expectations, expectations, oh, and expectations. If you were a bad student, you were expected to fail, and if you weren't you were expected to pass.

The teacher gave me detention for my "habitual actions," my 100th one of the school year. So after the final bell rang throughout the building, I reported to the detention room. It was starting to feel like my room back at the apartment. I was bored for the entire hour I sat in that white classroom.

There was nothing to do except pretend to be finishing my homework (page of math, a page of science, and a sketch for art along with our project.) The OSS teacher had gotten too absorbed with their magazine and fell asleep with it on top of their face; it drowned out the snoring. Seeing that, I dismissed myself from my punishment.

The walk to my apartment was through the downtown of the city, making my trip everyday filled with getting bumped by people, hearing a whistle or two. It felt awkward walking through downtown, crowded and busy, by myself without anyone to accompany me. I always had Oichi next to me, talking the trip clear of its time. Sure, what she mostly told me was just constant rambling about how I should make myself a better student and improve my 'educational standards.'

Oichi, whose full name was Oichi Kuratama, was my best friend. We had been assigned to be partners for a science lab with strict instructions on the amount of chemicals to be mixed together. She was quiet when we were working together; probably because she thought she would aggravate me if she tried talking to me. The silence brushed me off as though she wasn't talking to me because I was the delinquent and she was the honor student. When she went to go wash her hands free of the noncorrosive liquid that had accidentally spilt, I added a few extra droplets of vinegar to the mix.

With the bonus liquid coming in contact, it fizzed over the beaker, across the tabletop, and dripped onto the polished tile floor. Oichi rushed over, looking absolutely appalled at the mess I had concocted.

"What did you do?" She wailed.

I smirked. "You going to punch me for ruining your precious little A?"

I hadn't noticed the muscles hidden under her uniform. Needless to say, I also hadn't noticed her fist coming to my face until my head slammed against the floor.

We were both in detention, and it was there that we got to know each other.

After that, we walked to our homes, which were past the heart of the city.

I saw the movie theatre wedged between a realtor's building and a renovated art studio. It reminded me about my art assignment that was due next week. We were told to go watch the foreign art movie and write a page worth of notes about it. The movie was intended to be an introduction to our next section of art. I really, really didn't want to….

"Erine!"

I turned to the source of the noise and saw Keiko Yukimura coming toward me. She and I weren't best friends, but we weren't frenemies, if you understand. We shared all of our classes together as I did with Yusuke and Kuwabara (I'll introduce them later. Don't worry, they'll be coming up soon.); except I only had art and cooking with her. Knowing her and her grades she was here to watch the movie and get the assignment done early before anyone else. Why am I surrounded by people with smarts and I am the only dumb one; besides Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were both just so, so sad when it came to their intelligence.

I watched her short, chestnut colored hair bounce lively with volume as she made her way to me. Her brown eyes, which were always bright and happy looking, looked down at mine, causing me to feel shorter than what I really was. She towered over me by six inches, but other did by much more. Keiko was the class representative and made top scores, enough said. Along with Oichi, she scorned my record and sketchy attendance at school.

I knew her through a childhood friend (Yusuke). She knew me by my reputation. Everybody did. I was Erine Shiina, The Queen of Trouble and Toughest Chick at school. When I come down the hall, better clear the path.

"Hey, Keiko, here to see the movie?" I asked.

"Yeah. I was planning to see it with Yusuke and Kuwabara, but they just took off. Something about going to buy some 'guy things,'" she responded.

'Honey, if only you knew what keeps under his bed and in his underwear drawer,' I thought.

"Hmph, what a jerk. He's gone forever, you two are finally are able to be together, and then he's gone, again," I huffed.

If he were my boyfriend, I would have moved on by now. I mean, you don't do that to your girl without some form of apology or explanation. Keiko was way out of his league, but what can you do. I can't believe she actually bought that horrible alibi.

"Uh, yeah, totally," she fumbled around with her words. She stiffened and her eyes wandered to various spots. He bottom lip vaguely protruded out.

I frowned at her behavior. 'What's she nervous about?'

"Here, let me teach that boy a lesson. Where'd he head off to?"

"Uh, down the street."

I waved at her. "Thanks, Keiko. Tell your dad I said hello."

"Sure thing," she smiled, waving back.

As soon as I began walking, my tracking senses kicked in and I immediately saw a flash of green uniform I knew all too well. I picked my pace up. His bright colored uniform disappeared from my sight, I took off running. People littered along the city streets had little time to move out of my way. I could have cared less about them as I rounded the corner of the alleyway.

A piece of clothing went around another corner. I followed it and came upon a scene – a dangerous scene (expect these a lot, I find myself in them for some reason.) The first thing I actually noticed was that it wasn't Yusuke I was gazing at. It was several blue uniform backs. The uniforms were familiar because they belonged to my school.

Beyond the backs, I could see two boys my age. One of them had black hair with a luster that only a gallon of gel could provide, dark brown eyes, skin that was a little tan, and he stood a couple inches taller than Keiko. His name was Yusuke Urameshi. The boy beside him had orange, Elvis appearing hair, small black eyes, high cheekbones, and peachy colored skin tone. Now, he was way taller than me and Yusuke by…..a lot.

I knew him as Kazuma Kuwabara, or, simply, Kuwabara. Yusuke and him were known at Sarayashiki Junior High as the two toughest guys there. They were just a pair of softies if you ask me. Those two were my closest friends (w/ Oichi.)

I pointed a finger at Yusuke.

"Yusuke, you jerk," I yelled.

Kuwabara and him looked past the mob. There were traces of cocky smugness as the duo's faces turned into expressions of surprise. Then they went into a panic once it fully registered that I was here. At the sight of their widened eyes, my own heart skipped a beat. With my heart pumping being the catalyst, my body reacted with it.

The sweat glands in my palm began to activate. Salty liquid glistened between my fingers. Dry air dissolved practically all of the saliva between my tongue and lower throat.

The mob turned around. The obvious blades caught my attention from the start. How did I miss those switch blades?

I had overlooked so much more than just the blades. Their skin was pale and blue, much like the sky on a sunny day. Their eyes (so many things) were absolutely dyed red, deep, hazy, filled with hatred, rage, and violence. I had never seen so much hate in my life time, or so much murderous intent. As for their faces, rabid and tense.

Their canines stuck out from their mouths and I was reminded of the movie we watch in science today on bears and their hunting abilities.

I think I was shaking, but I couldn't tell.

"Erine," Yusuke screamed, he was in a jumble as well. "Get out of here! Don't be stupid! Just run!"

I couldn't.

One of the mob members lunged at me with his knife in front.

My head was shrieking to bolt it, or, at the very least, kick him, but I couldn't. Why couldn't I?

Time slowed down as the edge of his knife came closer and closer. It was barely several inches from my chest before his body was thrown off its course and into the dirt ground.

Yusuke placed his foot back down before turning to me with his eyebrows knit together.

"You okay?" He asked.

His voice, somehow, released fear's hold on me. I figured out that it was the fact that his voice meant protection and safety. He was a friend, someone I could put all my faith in and trust with my very life. In a way, he had made his way, along with Kuwabara, Keiko, and Oichi, into my new family.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," I replied as if I almost didn't get stabbed.

He nodded. "By the way, I'm going to toss you over to Kuwabara, is that okay? Cool, I'd knew you'd be okay with that?"

"What, Yusu-"

He picked me up by my waist and started spinning me around to build up speed. The skin on my body felt like it was about to be ripped apart from how much velocity Yusuke was able to create.

"You ready, Kuwabara?" Yusuke shouted.

"What are you talking about, Urameshi?" Kuwabara answered back.

"Okay, 1, 2, 3!"

I was going to die.

Yusuke released me and I was sailing through the air, over the mob of boys. It felt amazing to be flying through the air with nothing to hold you back. Well, except for gravity that is. This is what pulled me, literally, out of my wonderful experience of knowing flight. I began to dive straight for Kuwabara.

If I wasn't the one he was supposed to catch, I would have laughed at his expression. His mouth was so wide he could have caught several dozen flies. His eyes were expanded to the point that his eyeballs would probably pop out. They looked about ready to. I suddenly realized my safety was resting with this young boy.

Not exactly the person I was hoping for.

He put his arms out. His face was determined. "Don't worry, Erine-chan, I will catch you!"

'I really hope you can, Kuwabara,' I thought.

I fell right into him. He quickly gripped my body, enclosing me in his arms. To not take in the full impact, he swung me around a couple times before setting me down, his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I responded, absolutely relieved that he caught me safely. I smiled. "Thanks for catching me, Kuwabara."

He chuckled. "No problem, Erine-chan." He turned to Yusuke. "You got this, Urameshi?"

Yusuke smirked. He placed his hand on his wrist and rays of blinding light emitted from the cracks. "You sure bet I do."

The energy radiating from his fist was overpowering my extra sense and I almost thought that when he opened it at the guys that it would destroy the entire block. Everything in his palm burst out in small spirit blasts, pushing the boys from him and knocking them out on contact. They fell with a chorus of thuds to the ground.

"Shotgun!"

The blinding light disappeared.

"Oh, wow, it's crazy, Urameshi, it's like you're shooting a whole spray of spirit guns all at once," Kuwabara said, amazed at how much power Yusuke was able to create and the technique itself.

Yusuke smirked, looking smug and like a champion.

"Well, yeah, like I said, it's a shotgun," he stated in a matter of factly fashion.

He walked near the passed out boys and kneeled next to them. "But who the hell are these guys?"

What's going on? What was that? Why can Yusuke do that?

I felt the hairs on my back stand up. My sixth sense was kicking in and I could sense the unnatural spirit energy radiating from someone or something. Moments where my extra sense comes in included when I am near anyplace old, I can see the faint outlines of ghosts, when a natural disaster happens, I can feel it a few minutes before it even does, and I sometimes feel as though there are people walking around who aren't human.

"Hold on," Kuwabara said. He was looking rather anxious and excited. Like me, Kuwabara has what I believe is known as spiritual awareness. "I feel something strange around us." He began to frantically glance around at the alleyways and up on top of buildings. "I don't think it's human."

"You feel it, too?" I asked aloud, gazing around trying to find the source of the energy.

Kuwabara nodded.

I was glancing past another alleyway when I spotted him, or, maybe, it. Whatever it was, it was covered full bodied by a hat, trench coat, pants, and boots. It had its hat pulled down with its hand, and that's what gave away the fact that it was inhuman. The hand was green and had sharp claw, but I could vaguely make out a purple spot from where the end of the coat's sleeve concealed the skin.

Kuwabara noticed it the same time I did.

"Something like that," he yelled, pointing at the thing.

It panicked before turning and started sprinting away.

"Get him!"

Yusuke leaped up from his crouching position. Kuwabara and Yusuke ran past me, who was standing dumbfounded at their actions, chasing after whatever scampered off.

"What is going on?" I mumbled before joining them in the chase.

We were gaining on it, but with the turns it was making, it was becoming difficult to follow along. It exited an alleyway and turned to the right, but as we reached the end of the alley, its body zoomed right past us. We all just stood there, shocked, blinked, stepped out a bit to look at the it (passed out), then looked the other way.

"Now, that is teamwork."

With a bat rested upon her shoulder, stood a girl appearing fourteen. She had long, baby blue hair up in a ponytail with some volume. She was at a height of about 5'8. Her eyes were a peculiar color of lavender with a sort of pinkish tint to them; definitely not a natural human hue.

My senses were analyzing her as being spiritual, something that should not be here.

"B-botan," Yusuke stuttered at the girl.

Kuwabara flushed. "Hey, it's the pretty girl, have you thought about me?"

Yusuke and I barely managed to keep on our feet after that.

"I've been shadowing that one since he slipped through the barrier two days ago," Botan said, nodding at the creature on the ground.

The creature's hat slipped off his head, revealing, as I suspected, green skin with large purple blotches. If I didn't know any better, I'd say who looked like one of those demons you'd find in those old feudal drawings at shrines.

Yusuke scrunched up his nose. "He looks like he grew up too close to a nuclear plant."

"I'm pretty sure he's a spy from the place you'll be going to on your next mission," Botan added.

He snapped his head straight back at her and protested, "Okay, Botan, you can stop right there! I got back from grandma's evil boot camp today and I deserve a vacation!" He turned away from her and started walking away.

"Mission?" Is Yusuke like an agent or something? He couldn't be enrolled in the FBI could he? No, he's not smart enough for that. Or maybe he is?

"Why don't you call back in two years!" He finished.

Botan threw a glare at his retreating figure.

"Then I guess you don't mind everyone in the city being turned into a zombie!" She shouted as a counter.

He turned his head, clearly interested in what she had to say. To tell you the truth, so was I. What was she talking about? Zombies only happen in movies, and movies don't magically come to life! I questioned my science teacher on such a catastrophe, earning a head shake and a "zombies will never, ever happen, it's scientifically and naturally impossible."

"Does that question have a point?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Koenma was given a message yesterday," Botan began, and I could feel a story following it. "It was sent by an agent, much like the one we just walloped. He was given it from the City of Ghosts and Apparitions, more specifically the Four Saint Beasts. Their conditions were that we allow them passage into the human world in exchange for the safety of human kind. That's why I was sent after the agent and why I came to get you."

I frowned. Could this day get any weirder? Ghost? Apparitions? Saint Beasts? It feels as though I landed myself in a story book with evil monsters and demons, but the possibility of that was close to none. Maybe I was dreaming?

"I don't see what all the fuss is about, if Koenma's in charge then why can't he just turn down the request? And who are these stupid Saint Beasts?" Yusuke questioned simultaneously.

"They are the four most notorious criminals in all of the Spirit World. The title 'saint' was given to them by their followers. Years ago they were chased by a coalition of pursuers and evaded capture by locking themselves in a booby trapped fortress," she answered, walking back the alleyway where we came from. "Since then a whole city has formed at is base, filled with vile crooks who view these beasts like gods; the City of Ghosts and Apparitions."

The boys from before were still down on the ground, nothing changed appearance wise about them. Botan walked toward them.

"Hey, aren't you going to finish your story?" Yusuke called to her.

She pointed at the unconscious people. "Why don't you take a look at those boys you knocked out?"

We all took several steps closer to get a better look at them. Nothing seemed out of place until we spotted some kind of insect moving inside one of the boy's mouth. As I witnessed it crawl over the side of his lips, I had the sudden urge to hurl. I had skipped lunch that day, and I'm pretty sure that's what helped me from actually vomiting anything.

"Tell me I did not just see a bug crawl from his throat," Yusuke said, disgusted at the sight as Kuwabara went green and covered his mouth.

We watched the bug fly into the air.

"They're called Makai insects, a parasite from the darker parts of the Spirit World," Botan explained. "They bury themselves under the skin and nurture a person's primal desires. Minds occupied by this insect develop a need for destruction, physical power, and murder; it will be a disaster."

"Well, can't we tell people, I mean, there's got to be a cure," Yusuke said.

"There is, but ordinary people can't see the insects. The inflicted will be seen as merely psychotic, and I'm afraid a cure will not be a first on the humans' minds. "

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do!"

"The only way to rescue the city is to kill the insects, and the only way to do that is by the whistle, which the enemies possess."

"A whistle?"

Botan nodded. "Without the whistle sustaining frequency, the Makai can't live outside of Spirit World."

"So… how long do we have until these Saint Beasts leave their castle and come to earth themselves?" Yusuke inquired.

"At this point, they can't, for years we've had them trapped inside the city with a barrier wall. Now, with this flood of insect invasion they hope to force us to open the barrier."

"Ah, so I see. They give you the whistle if you open up the wall."

"Instead we'll make a small breach in the wall to let you in. Eventually, they'll find this hole themselves."

Yusuke gave Botan a serious expression and it fit what came out of his mouth next. "And what if I'm not able to beat them?"

Botan gave him a look of equality. "I don't think I have to tell you what would happen if all those demons from the city came to earth."

I saw a bead of sweat trickled down the side of Yusuke's face. He was thinking the same thing as I was. When I imagine an inhuman invasion I think of building being destroyed, the population dwindling in to less than thousands, no sunrise, no sunset, and they constant stench of chaos and life being sucked away. That's when I figured out that maybe this wasn't a dream after all, that I was really here and listening to Botan, whom I had no idea who she was or what she was for that matter, thinking of the aftermath of something such as this. For this small moment, I felt weight on my shoulder, like I was somehow responsible for this.

I wasn't, but I didn't know that in that one emotion I felt, it would have changed my future forever and something else…

"I have to be honest, Botan, this takes the record for confusing," Yusuke commented.

"Yes, just try to remember the basics: you're good, and the entire city is bad, destroy the whistle, and defeat the beasts, and the case will be closed," Botan advised.

"Okay, I just can't believe Koenma expects me to take on a freaking city of demons alone. Don't they send teams out for this kind of thing?"

'Oh, no,' I thought.

"What about me, Urameshi?" Kuwabara suggested, pointing to himself. They turned to him, forgetting he was there.

Botan blinked a couple times; obviously, surprised she had forgotten Kuwabara was still her. "Oh, Kuwabara, there's no such thing as demons. Yusuke and I were just joking!"

She was flailing her arms around, but her flustered expression and rather shaky voice was making it difficult to believe otherwise.

"Look, I'm not done-"another bug flew from one of the boy's mouth "- or blind."

Kuwabara crushed the bug in his palm before continuing. "We all know I can see supernatural stuff a whole lot better than Yusuke, and I'm not going to sit around my house while Yusuke doesn't see things and let's big monster and insects take over my city; cause I'm Kuwabara and in case you guys forgot, I've got a sword!"

What do you want Kuwabara, a medal? Since when did he have a sword and why I am I feeling so left out of this thing that's going on here? All I was really able to process was that the earth is in danger and Yusuke's got to go save it.

We sweat dropped at Kuwabara's proclamation. I had to give the guy credit for, at least, trying to look strong and tough, but a certain pet cat named Eikitchi does not help the punk aura he was trying so hard to set for himself. Like I said before, Kuwabara is just a big softie, just like Yusuke, although it's harder to get moments like that out of Yusuke.

"Well, Yusuke, I guess there's no point in arguing with the eager," Botan commented.

Botan threw open the door, causing dust clouds to roll out. She had leaded us to small building not two minutes from where we were. I traveled in the back, still under the impression that everyone forgot I was even here.

We traveled down two minor flights of stairs and in no time before we all reached the floor filled with old supplies and cobwebs, Botan crouched down onto the floor and started banging on it.

"Banging on the floors of random warehouses seems like fun to me," Yusuke stated, sarcastically.

"This is where they were supposed to put the breach in the barrier," Botan countered.

She banged a couple times more before one of tiles came ajar. "Bingo."

She lifted up the entire plate and gazed down into the whole of green haze.

This was that something, well, technically, not the whole itself, but what was coming out of it was the something. My eardrums were greeted by music. It was low and slightly soft, difficult to hear in a crowded room, but perfect for a room with this much vacancy. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but it didn't disappear.

The music was rhythmic and followed strict patter of beats. I could make out the steady beating of drums and the sound of ancient maracas following its lead. Then a mixture of voices came next, singing a hymn of some sort. Their song was sung in low key, giving it a spiritual yet remorse sound.

_Go on your destiny_

Destiny?

_Go on your journey_

Journey?

_Your final travel  
Your resting place_

The lines repeated then moved on to a different set.

_Sacrifice_

I gasped as I saw Kuwabara jump down into the hole, the song vanished.

Botan leaned over the side, eyes widened. "He really jumped."

Yusuke gulped. "Maybe he'll be okay alone."

Botan shot him a look.

"Okay, okay."

Botan gasped. "Oh, not yet." She reached in a pulled out to purple compacts from her jacket. "Here! I'm supposed to give you this communication mirror."

Yusuke snatched one of them from her hand.

"Geez," he yelled. "You almost forgot to give me this thing. Let me guess without it, I'd probably be killed?"

"No," she answered, innocent. "It's not a weapon; it's just a communication mirror so I can keep in contact with you on the other side."

"Yeah, yeah, leave me alone while you go do other things, "he spat hatefully. He gasped in realization.

"What's a matter now, Yusuke?"

"Keiko-"Oh, shit "- I just dumped her off at the movie theatre." He shuddered at the thought of having to deal with Keiko's anger and wrath when he has to go back to her. Holy crap, he is going to be in so much trouble, I just love watching Keiko completely own Yusuke with her slap.

"Botan, tell you what, why don't you take care of things with her and I'll go down here." He jumped right in with his tail between his legs.

"Yusuke, I don't want to do that!"

Botan sighed before returning on her feet and turned around. She stared right at me when she noticed I was still there. I blinked at her.

"Hi," I said.

She started to panic because I was human who just saw not so human things occur. Like before she was flailing her arms all over the place. I should be the one who was doing that, but I found some way to stay calm during the situation, but still confused.

"What do I do? What do I do? I just showed all these things that I shouldn't have," she said.

"Well, for one, could you start explaining a few questions I have?" I asked her.

She laughed nervously and rubbed her head.

"Yes, I would suppose you have quite a few. Shoot," she answered. Her face got rid of everything that gave away that she was anxious and, for once, she looked absolutely serious. It felt as though I was in a job interview, it was kind of creepy.

"First one's basic, there are such things as ghosts and demons and spiritual powers and Spirit World and, I'm guessing, Demon World, correct?" I questioned.

She nodded her head.

"Second, these Saint Monster Ducks, or whatever you call them, plan on taking over the world using those weird bugs that turn people into zombies?"

"That's correct, they're called the Four Saint Beasts, but I like the names you gave them much better," she giggled.

I smiled, increasingly pleased that I had made her laugh.

"Okay, third, Yusuke went to fight these things with Kuwabara, why? Is he some sort of agent?" I continued on with my questions.

"In a way, he is. Actually, he's a spirit detective, and a spirit detective is someone who works for the Spirit World and keeps all of the demons and apparitions in line from tampering with the balance of the Human World, Spirit World, and Demon World," she explained, I could tell it was broadly, no doubt that going specific would take a huge amount of time and details.

"And coming to my final question, what was that noise?" I ended it off.

The song felt familiar, as though someone has sung it to me for a thousand years over. Though my memory may not be the best and it's been a long time since I really had a person to call a parent, I was positive that I have not heard it before in my life. That's what caught me off guard about it.

"What noise?" Botan raised an eyebrow.

I tilted my head at her. How could she not hear it? It was loud enough to cover the sound of two people yelling at each other over some ridiculous subject.

"Y'know that weird song that was going on," I said. "The singing and the sacrifice and the destiny and the journey."

She looked utterly confused. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

I huffed. "Well, I heard and it was calling me down into that spirit teleport thing, so I'm going."

"Wait, you can't, you don't the dangers of going down in there, you could be killed," She warned, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You expect me to leave my boys down there by themselves," I stated, smirking at her.

She released my shoulder and gazed at me quizzically. I make impressions, it's what I do, no autographs, please. So, in simple terms, I do what the smart, logical people don't. I do the stupid and irrational.

"Look, I get the point that there are monsters and demons, but I just can't let Yusuke and Kuwabara go off; get themselves in trouble, without me there to bust them out of it. Besides, what could go wrong?"

I knew the answer. So many things.

Botan shook her head, not in a manner that was supposed to be a 'no.' It was more of a 'I can't believe you're serious.' Out of the blue, she gasped. She pointed to me.

"You said something about a song, correct?" she asked.

I nodded.

"And you were the only one who heard it?"

Again, I nodded.

"Then you must be one of the- "

The hymn echoed my ears. The noise was soft, not as loud as it was before.

_Go on your destiny  
Go on your journey  
Your final travel  
Your resting place_

A pull tugged at my chest as if a hand was actually grabbing onto my school uniform. It was trying to push me toward the portal, and I resisted this invisible push with little strength. I sighed when it vanished because if it had pushed me only a couple steps I would have fallen into the hole in the ground.

Turning to Botan, I asked. "So what were you saying again?"

"I was saying that you are most likely one of the-"

Her sentence was cut off when I gasped. I gazed up at her face as I was pushed over the edge of the portal. Feeling myself falling, I reached out to her and called her name. She leaped over to the edge just as I was about to disappear and extended her hand to grab mine. Her fingertips brushed against mine and my heart skipped a beat.

I watched as her figure grew further away.

The wind hit my back with such force; I thought it would rip the fabric of the uniform. There was a numbing sensation in the back of my head and I blacked out in the midst of plummeting to the ground.

There were flashes of memories. They were memories that weren't mine, but they had to have been because I saw myself in each and every one of them. Oichi was in several of them, Yusuke was in them, too, Kuwabara as well, Keiko was in a small portion, I saw my mom, and the rest of them were occupied by people I hadn't met before. Then there was a picture of a field of flowers, all of the same one, flowing in the frail wind. The flowers were carnations.

They were the flowers of my birth month, January. The field was divided by the color of the carnations and only three colors existed. A fourth of the flowers were pink, another fourth red, and the other half remaining were white. This place felt familiar, but, again, I had never been anywhere like this before.

"Erine!"

My eyes snapped open at the sound of my name. I was still falling, but there was no longer the sight of city. It was replaced by a wasteland, completely desolate of life….except for the four figures looking up at me, two of them I knew, Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Catch me!" I screamed at them.

I was fast approaching the ground, maybe a good fifty feet away, before the boys opened their arms toward me. They were coming closer and closer with each passing second.

I had no doubt they would catch me. And catch me they did, well, actually it was Kuwabara because he shoved Yusuke to the ground. Closing my eyes, for the third time that day, I felt the pain of being caught from such a high velocity, but it was nothing compared to, say, getting hit by a car; pun absolutely intended. I opened my eyes to a concerned Kuwabara, a Yusuke on the floor, a wasteland, and a castle in the distance.

"Whoa, Erine-chan, are you alright?" Kuwabara questioned, I feel like I'm getting asked that more than usual today.

I smiled up at him. "Of course, thanks for catching me."

He blushed and smirked confidently. "I would never let anything happen to you, I promise."

I chuckled at his statement. "That's a relief. Now, I'll never be danger, I guess."

His blush maddened.

Yusuke stood up, rubbing the side of his arm.

"Alright, break it up you two," he said, and I could tell his patience was wearing thin. Kuwabara set me down before Yusuke continued on. "What are doing here anyway, Erine? This place is seriously dangerous."

I puffed up my cheeks at him before huffing my answer. "Well, if you must know I got pushed over the edge and fell all the way down here. Don't give yourself so much credit; I wanted to leave you behind."

The last part of the sentence was not entirely true. Ssh, just make it seem like I hate him with all my being.

He raised an eyebrow. "Pushed?"

"Long story, I'd love to tell you later."

"Excuse me."

We turned to look at the other two figures, whom I had seen from my 'graceful' descent. Stating the obvious, they were both male.

On the right stood a young man, appearing to be the age of around fifteen and was about 5'11". He had long vibrant red hair with two forelocks on both of his shoulders. His eyes were bright along with his hair and they were green. He was wearing a dark pink school uniform with gold trim on the jacket. If I didn't have better understanding of female and males, I would have mistaken him for a girl with his delicate features.

I was getting this odd wavelength from him, and I believe it was meant to say this boy was not what I'd call completely 'human.'

Now, the one on left, he was as short as me probably coming in at 4'10" (without his hair, that is), BUT I was 4'11", making me taller than someone, finally. Oh, he looked about sixteen years old. He had spiky black hair with, strangely enough, blue tinted outline and a white starburst in the middle of the hair and hairline. He was wearing a long, black cloak-looking jacket, a white scarf, a pure white headband, and black pants that were tucked into his black boots.

However, his eyes, they were so different from everyone else's, they were crimson, like the color of blood.

I could sense he was not human either, but he had no trace of such in him. Was he a demon?

"But who are you?" the red haired boy questioned.

I pointed to myself. "Me? Oh, my name is Erine Shiina. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, yeah, Kuwabara, Erine, I'd like you to meet Kurama and that's Hiei," Yusuke said.

"A pleasure," Kurama, the red head, said.

Hiei didn't even acknowledge us which really irritated me. Great, he hasn't even said a word and I already want to punch him. I can tell he and I are going to get along just dandy.

"Well, I don't have a clue what's going on, but it sure is nice to have a helping hand," Kuwabara said with a delighted smile.

"Helping is not the right word," Hiei stated plainly.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I stared down at him, clearly not liking where this was going.

"Koenma may regard us as equals, but I do not. Once inside the castle, I suggest you let us do the work. As far as I'm concerned we're baby-sitting," He said.

I felt rather insulted at the fact that he was basically calling us weak and worthless. This, to an extent, was true, mostly for just me because if they can do better than what Yusuke did back there to those controlled thugs, I don't want to get on their bad side. Another way I looked at this was that I didn't have to do anything and I could spend my time teasing the boys and figuring out what that strange song was all about.

Kuwabara, however, was reacting a little differently to this than Yusuke and I, who didn't respond to Hiei's statement.

"Listen you puny jerk face, I'm going to have to beat you up if you keep talking down to us like that," he threatened, sizing up the short apparition.

Hiei didn't seem affected by him, in fact, he seemed almost bored.

"Let's avoid fighting. You're not worth it," he commented.

Give it 3, 2, 1…

"Oh, that's it!" Kuwabara raised his fist to his head before bringing it down toward the Hiei's. I gasped as I saw Hiei vanish and reappear in front of Yusuke. Kuwabara stumbled over and fell to the ground with a small, unnoticeable thud. I bit my lip from laughing.

Hiei and Yusuke gazed at each other with glares of hatred and rivalry.

"But you, detective, are a different story. I plan to take my revenge on you, so consider this fair warning," Hiei spat at him. Funny, that's exactly how I sound when I tell my teachers I don't have my homework.

Kuwabara leapt to his feet, shooting daggers at the back of Hiei's head. "Oh, so you want to ignore me!?"

He tried, yet again, to strike Hiei with a fist only to end up back on the land's bare floor. I had to bit my lip for the second time. Hiei returned to his spot beside Kurama, disappearing then reappearing.

"Hiei, we must face this current business before you start your own," Kurama advised.

Somehow, the way he spoke so casually to Hiei as if he were his own brother made me understand that these two were probably close. Sort of like how Oichi and I were.

Kuwabara stood up and continued to glare Hiei down with one of the biggest scowls I have ever seen him wear.

"Don't worry, three eyes, if we survive this I'll be glad to take you one," Yusuke said.

Three eyes? I've felt so lost ever since all this started.

"Now, is this a perfect team or what?" he announced, actually proud of what had been assembled. Heck, I was in this group and he considered this a perfect team. He must have completely lost it to think that.

"No, Yusuke, it's not," I answered, knowing full well that was a rhetorical question.

He glared at me. "And why not?"

"Have you not been paying attention to what's been going on or who is here?" I asked him. "Kuwabara and Hiei already have a tension filled relationship, and they've barely know each other more than half a minute. You've got a delinquent, a kitten loving tough guy, me, a girl who has no idea what is going on, and a short guy barely pushing 4'10" with a more or less generic tsundere or kuudere boy, and the only one I really think I can trust here is the smart looking ginger over there."

"You want to know something, Erine? You can be a pain in the ass sometimes," he said.

"I'm rubber, you're glue," I countered.

"Uh, guys," Kuwabara mumbled.

"Shut up, Kuwabara!" We hissed at him in unison. He clamped his mouth and backed off.

"You can barely keep yourself at school!"

"You can't stay away from the crack!"

"I'd wish you could just get over yourself!"

"Touché…"

"Yes, I win," I yelled, throwing my hands in the air in a celebrating manner. "So, where are these Saint Beasts we're supposed to fight?"

Kuwabara and Yusuke glanced at each other and pointed into the distance. I followed their fingers. There sat an old, stone castle with lightning crackling in the back drop. Maybe it was just me, but I felt it to be quite homey with the ancient, worn out look to it. I smiled back at Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Seems like a dandy place, actually," I said cheerfully.

Yusuke's and Kuwabara's mouths dropped

"What have you been sniffing?" Yusuke questioned, shaking his head.

"Nothing you haven't already done," I commented low enough so he wouldn't hear it.

"Well, we better get started, they sooner we get this done with the sooner we can head home," he said.

Kuwabara shot Hiei a side glare. Hiei simply turned his head away, not caring what the orange-haired human was doing.

'Like one big, happy family alright," I thought as a sweat drop rolled down the side of my head.

I stayed in the back of the group for the walk to the entrance of the castle. Yusuke would have been a nice choice to walk beside, but that would put me next to Hiei. To be honest, he scared the absolute crap out of me. I mean, I know, I get it, he's a little demon, but there's just something about him that makes me feel like I should keep my distance from him in terms of his ability to deal with anybody like Kuwabara, Yusuke, and myself. Still, there was something about him that made me want to gravitate to him, and I guessed it was most likely the fascination of him being a real demon and his disposition was something I had not seen before.

He was so quiet and had this sort of dark aura around him, completely different from Kurama.

So, Kurama, he acted pretty nice, so I guess, he's okay. I get the feeling I can trust him, but there's also this faint air about him, too. Almost as if he's not at all he appears to be. He looks human, enough, and right now, he was really the only thing from this place that felt anywhere close to me. You can count the uniform, too.

Yusuke gazed up at the entrance to the castle. It had been carved out to look like a skull with fangs. I found the look to add quite a spice of horror to the whole evil and bad aura the place was trying to bring.

"Oh, now this place is homey," Yusuke cooed.

"So, uh, I guess we're just going to walk right in," Kuwabara said. His voice echoed off the stony interior of the entrance gate hall.

"Any prize worth having usually requires a risk," Kurama cautioned.

He was starting to remind me of Oichi a little bit. She constantly rambled on about being safe and giving hints here and there about safety. I found her to be a fun sucker and didn't like to take risks.

"I say we make 'em come out here and fight us up front like they're not a bunch of sissies," Kuwabara voiced.

As soon as I saw Hiei's lips start to move, I knew we were in for some more arguing.

"Hmph, you're sense of strategy is amazing," Hiei commented.

Kuwabara whirled his head toward him. "You talking to me, runt boy!"

Yusuke scowled at the behavior of the so called 'perfect' team. "Let's go."

"Stupid dwarf," Kuwabara mumbled.

We entered in the hallway. The air was damp and cold. I was instantly glad that our school was late in changing into the spring/summer uniforms. We could clearly see the other end of the hallway when an object morphed into our sight.

"Oh my god, what the hell is that?" I asked, now knowing what the object was.

It was a thing. It was a flying, purple skinned eyeball with bat wings and small tentacles coming out of it. Yeah…I know…I wasn't expecting that…..

"Welcome to Maze Castle," It greeted, though; the voice was high pitched and sound sinister.

"Thank you," I said.

Kuwabara's mouth dropped in awe at the creature. "Whoa, it talked."

"Those who enter the castle must be tried by the Gates of Betrayal," it continued on.

Yusuke glared at it. "What do you mean 'tried?" 'Yusuke questioned cautiously.

The soaring creature, turned away from us, ignoring Yusuke entirely. It flew over the a wall where a piece of it fell opened, revealing a lever. It used its tentacles to pull it down. Fantastic.

"Urameshi, why did you have to ask?" Kuwabara said.

Nothing happened the following few seconds. The tension was building up between us and we were secretly keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Kurama gasped and looked up. "The ceiling!"

We all glanced up at the ceiling. It started moving slowly before coming down fast upon us.

"Mother- Ahhh!"

I didn't have time to finish what I was saying because the ceiling picked up even more speed. It was barely inches away from my head before I fell backwards on my butt. The boys were holding it up with their arms and exhaling at the collision at the weight.

The eyeball flew close. "Heavy, isn't it? Sensors in the corridors are most intelligent; a complex assembly of years adapts the ceiling's weight precisely to the strength of its victims. Of course, there is a catch, there is enough room for one person to escape, leaving their friends to be crushed by the weight.

Yusuke cursed under his breath, using what little strength he had to glare at it.

"But decisions must be made quickly and everyone will be crushed, only by turning against your friends, will one of you be able to escape. Only the traitor will be able to enter Maze Castle, that's why it's called the Gate of Betrayal you see." It soared away, laughing maniacally at our misfortune.

"When I get my hands on that thing…" Kuwabara grumbled against the exertion. He tried shifting its weight a little, but the ceiling lowered slightly.

Hiei grunted before turning to Kuwabara. "Stay focused on the weight or you'll kill us all!"

"Oh sure, blame me. I bet I'm holding up a lot more weight than you two are," Kuwabara counted, irritated at the demon's outburst.

"Shut it, Kuwabara," Yusuke warned from over his shoulder.

'My life coming to a close so early..especially with these idiots,' I thought to myself. 'But it hasn't been so bad, maybe I'll see brother and father in the next world. I mean, it's not like I can help push since I don't have my hands on the ceiling…..I love you, Erine.'

The ceiling lowered further.

"I'm not about to die for the sake of you worthless humans," Hiei lashed out, sending a glare at Kuwabara and Yusuke, seemingly ignorant of my prescence.

I widened my eyes in shock. I mean, I knew he had the whole 'I don't like people in general' kind of attitude, but he wouldn't really let us die, would he? Would he?

"Don't you even consider it, Hiei!" Kurama shouted over to him.

"Yeah," I joined, sitting up. "We've got lives, too, y'know. It's not like we don't have futures."

Everyone glanced at me with this sort of plain expression on their face. They did forget I was here. Hey!

"Erine, do you think you might be able to get across the room and flip the switch for us?" Yusuke shouted.

I nodded frantically. "Y-yeah!"

"Well, then, do it!"

"Hold it, we're resting our lives on the hands of a stupid, weak girl," Hiei yelled to Yusuke.

"Hey!"

"Look, shorty, we don't have much of a choice! So suck it up and trust her," Kuwabara retorted to him.

Hiei glanced warily and untrustingly at me then back to Kuwabara then back to me.

I don't know what compelled me to really phrase what I was about say. I'd say it to him and many others over and over again. The feeling was all the same, though. What was underneath that phrase was more of a why would you trust me. I was no different from anybody else, demon or human or spirit.

I was me. Why trust me? But I was confident not to let their trust down. And a majority of the time I didn't and other times…..

"Trust me, I won't ever let you down," I said to him, I sounded more confident than I actually was.

What if I couldn't pull the lever in time? What then? I'd have their deaths on my minds, but would to take it to my grave, which probably wouldn't be that far behind.

Hiei analyzed my answer and my face. His eyes, red as blood, I don't know, but I could see something in them a little bit more than who he was. It was almost as if he was locking something away from the world. His own private, dark secret.

He'd soon find out that I have my own.

He turned away from me.

"Go."

watch?v=otiXrQVwQfU&feature=related


	2. Genbu, The Stone Beast

I had an opportunity, probably my only, to be some how useful to this mission, quest, thing? At the time, it wasn't really about opportunity as much as it was about saving my friends from their deaths. If you could include Hiei and Kurama as my friends. I did, for the most part, they were here to help and I'd put my life in their hands if it ever came down to it. Although, I would have more faith in Kurama than Hiei because, as I said, he scares me so much.

Yusuke and Kuwabara?

Leaving my life in the hands of Yusuke? I could deal with that. I was his little sister, in a sense; after he was announced 'dead,' I didn't attend the funeral, at least, publicly. When night fell over the city, I snuck out of my house and went to his shrine and laid a bouquet of flowers.

Kuwabara was a catch of a friend and boyfriend. I knew about his crush on me and couldn't understand it in the least. He was tough and loud, but also sensitive and compassionate. I had found him to be a really great role model, brother, and friend. I would trust him with my life any day, any place, any situation, and any time.

At the sound of Hiei's command to move forward, I got up from my sitting position on the ground. I weaved my way frantically through the boys, all the while keeping my eyes on the lever. It was my determination to keep my friends safe and sound that held my focus together, and it was victory that swept through me when I reached the lever, much to the flying eyeball's surprise. I lifted my hand to grasp the lever's handle.

I gasped. "This feeling."

A wave of forewarning washed over me; it was my sixth sense kicking in again. It was telling me that pulling this lever would be a foolish mistake. Normally, I would have ignored the warning, which got me a couple scrapes and bruises before, but taking into account where I

was, I felt it best to go with it.

The thought of my friends almost being crushed by the ceiling filled my mind, and I was starting to reconsider the idea of not pulling the lever. I needed to, but…

"What are you doing?" Yusuke shouted, confused at the ceiling not being moved. "Pull the lever!"

"I-I can't," I turned around and yelled at him.

"What? Why not?!"

"There's this sense of urgency!" I explained to him. "If I pull this, I'm afraid something will go wrong!"

Hiei glared at me. I flinched away. He was probably extremely mad for letting me do this and actually doing it. "You stupid woman, just pull the lever!"

I resented the first phrase of his comment, but could understand his frustration. However, that doesn't mean I'll be so lenient when it comes to the responses I'd throw back. Hiei, repeat, is totally scary and creepy, but when I was upset, I lost the sense of thinking practically and understanding fear.

"Shut up," I screamed, infuriated. I pointed a finger at him. "Why don't you pull it, yourself?"

"You're acting like a foolish child," Hiei retorted back.

The flying eyeball took this time to enter into our conversation with a horrible, almost shrieking laughter.

"As I expected," It said, "you have no faith in each other as partners. At least, you will all be able watch each other disappear into oblivion."

The end of its tentacles gave off a strange feeling to them. I stiffened. They started to glow a faint purple glow; it was eerie and almost forewarning. However, the feeling wasn't powerful at all. The eyeball lifted his tentacles up toward me and caused the glow to intensify.

It was blinding. I shielded my eyes from it. It was like a car light and I was most definitely the deer in its path.

I gasped as I felt slimy ropes snake their way over my waist. They tightened painfully and I cringed. My feet slowly began to be lifted off the ground, and my body was ascending along with them.

"Whoa, whoa," I said as a nauseating feeling washed over me.

My head was starting to hurt. I watched as the stone ground grew smaller before stopping suddenly stopping in mid-air. The light began to fade away and sight was granted back to me. What greeted me was the surprising fact that I was suspended in air about twenty or thirty feet up.

"Oh, my Kami," I breathed out in surprise. "Okay, happy thoughts. When this is all over I'll go home and have some nice taiyaki and won't have to worry about this anymore."

"Erine!"

Yusuke's voice somewhat calmed me down a bit. I still did not like being in the air, though.

I blew it this time. I told Hiei that I would be able to do this, but I guess that I would not be able to do it. For some reason, I felt ashamed. I had led my friends down right when they needed me the most.

But isn't that how it always goes? I was never good at making friends. So I guess it only fits that I would be the one to end them. To be the one to cease their existence all because of my gift of awareness.

"Okay, guys, new plan," Yusuke said, though his sentence came out in staggered breathes.

The flying eyeball opened its mouth to continue to taunt the poor boys. (Does Hiei count as a boy since he is a demon? So many questions…)

"This has always been my favorite part of the trial," it said in a playful manner. "Watching you squirm as your muscles begin to pop and tear under the ceiling's weight. But, of course, the best is your eyes; seeing the gears of thought turn to desperation – thinking, questioning yourself. 'How long can I hold this'? 'Will I die this way'? 'Will one friend betray us and escape while the other will be flattened'? 'Or should I be the one'?"

"You're an a**," I choked out. The ropes around me tightened. I gave a small cry as they started to pierce through my uniform and onto my skin.

"Hang on, Erine-chan we're gonna get you down," Kuwabara promised from underneath the ceiling's weight. I saw his figure getting pushed down some more by the ceiling before he turned to the others. "And if anyone tries to run, I swear I'll drag them back myself."

I heard Hiei scoff. "And I suppose you'd think it would be noble if we all died as a team."

"That's right-"

Yusuke interrupted. "Here's a thought: let's shut up and find another way out!"

I saw Yusuke divert his attention toward the switch. He was thinking. I hoped he had a good enough plan to get everyone out of here.

The ceiling inched lower more and I felt my heart clench at the sight.

'Please, no, no, don't take them from me…'

My eyes started to sting. I shut them tight to keep the tears from pouring out. I wanted to

make sure my secret was safe, even from my friends. They would think I was some kind of freak if they saw me cry.

Yusuke turned his head to Hiei.

"Hiei, you're a lot faster than any of us. We'll hold the ceiling up while you go and flip the

switch," he said.

I trusted Yusuke. Hiei was another matter entirely. Sure, he was fast and definitely could get

to that switch at this point. I just got the impression that he hated humans which the rest of

us – maybe except for Kurama – were. So the odds that he would save us were not really in

our favor. He might save Kurama, though.

"Are you crazy? We can't trust this guy. Just look, he doesn't care at all about us," Kuwabara

retorted. He casted an untrusting glance towards Hiei.

"Your ugly friend has a good point, detective," Hiei poked, with an obvious smirk on his face.

'Hey, Kuwabara isn't ugly,' I thought in anger. 'He's just rugged-looking.'

"Who's ugly – " Me! " – come here you mouse."

Hiei promptly ignored him before giving his attention to Yusuke. "You sure you want to trust

me? I've already vowed my revenge on you. Maybe I'll handle that, now."

Yusuke gave him a jovial smile; the one that you know a joke was following. "Yeah, but I don't

think quick deaths are your style."

That took Hiei by surprise.

Yusuke began to release some of his spirit energy. It glowed a deep crimson around his body

and I could feel the power from it from where I was.

"I'll let out all the spirit energy I have left to buys us some time while you run to the switch,"

Yusuke explained. His face was starting to become drenched with sweat. "Just don't trip."

I saw Hiei give him a flabbergasted (hehe, I like that word) expression.

Yusuke gave him an encouraging smile. "I trust you."

He turned his attention back to the ceiling. Using all of the energy within his body he lifted

the ceiling just a little bit higher so Hiei could remove his hands and flip the switch. His

muscles could be seen almost ripping his uniform from the amount of force he was using. I

wished I were that strong someday.

"Now go!"

It was almost like a flash of lightning. Maybe within a half a second Hiei had disappeared

from underneath the ceiling to the switch.

I smiled. We were going to get out of this! We really were! I thought I might actually start

liking Hiei as a sort of SPU member. Short People United that is.

My friends were going to be safe. I wouldn't have to live with the guilt of killing them.

Hiei reached his hands out to pull the switch. His fingertips brushed against it when he

stopped suddenly.

'Does he feel it, too?' I thought.

He looked back the others.

"What's the big deal? Pull the stupid switch already," Kuwabara shouted. Well, he was

clearly upset with Hiei.

The eyeball took its chance to intervene and floated next to Hiei's face which was etched

with uncertainty.

"There is no need to make snap judgments, my friend. What have they ever done for you?

Leave them and you can come with me into the castle. With the invasion of Earth, the Four

Saint Beasts will control the future. Be smart – join us. Perhaps you can even be the general

of our demon army," he said.

Hiei looked up at the eyeball. The thought was actually going through his mind. Was he

crazy? He had to be smarter than that; no way would they actually hold true to that promise.

"You're actually considering that? What the h***, man," I shouted at him.

"Don't you dare, you creep! If it hadn't been for our help, you'd still be screaming with the

rest of us," Kuwabara yelled at him.

Hiei's hand dropped away from the switch. I felt my heart sink into some deep, dark

destination within my stomach. Hiei closed his eyes and snickered smugly at the others

underneath the ceiling. The ones holding on for dear life.

"What are you laughing about?!"

Hiei opened his eyes, red and gleaming with playfulness (maybe?). His lips curved into a

wicked grin.

"Take a guess, you fool," he said.

"D*** you!"

"Son of a b****," I growled at him. My fingertips were twitching. They were just _itching _to get

my hands on his neck.

The eyeball, obviously, was pleased with the way the situation had turned out. "Yes, you

find amusement in their pain. Now, imagine the satisfaction that will come from their final

screams."

It gave an ominous laugh that echoed maniacally through the corridor.

The ceiling slid farther down so that the boys were in crouching position.

"Hiei," Kuwabara gave out a pleading cry. One that was thoroughly ignored.

"A wise choice; the boulder would have crushed you anyway."

I yelled. "I told you, f*****!"

Hiei glared over at the eyeball. In a flash he was behind it with his hand on the hilt of a

katana he had hidden underneath his black colored cloak. His eyes were frightening, just a

little. They looked so ready to kill and spill blood.

"Thanks for the clue," he said.

The katana slashed the eyeball diagonally. Sounds of metal cleaving through flesh ran

through my ears as I watched Hiei attack. Such a sickening sound it was to me. Blood

followed soon after the slash. It oozed its way onto the sensitive skin of the eye, mixing in

with the liquid covering it already.

Red drops, smelling of iron, seeped down onto the floor in small dots. It created a pattern for

a background.

The eyeball gave a small shriek as it writhed in pain.

My body didn't feel as pressured as it was before which made me curious.

I looked down to see that the ropes that were binding me were disappearing. The burning

sensation because of the ropes vanished along with it as I was beginning to be freed from my

so called "chains" as it were. That was when I realized that I was a good twenty feet off the

ground and that if I did fall I'd probably break a leg or two… or die. I also realized that I would

rather be suspended in the air than fall down to my probable death. Then again there was

Hiei there to catch me.

Oh, please, like he would have ever done that for me.

So I had good reason to scream in terror when the ropes completely faded away and I was

plummeting to the stony ground. At that exact moment, Hiei pulled the switch, pulling

through in the end, you could say. The boulder that was mentioned from before was now

falling to the ground at a quick speed just a few feet above me. And it wasn't small either.

"Oh, that son of a b****," I mumbled, angrily under my breath at Hiei, hoping his demon

hearing could pick up on it.

The boulder was gaining speed and by the time Hiei was within catching distance from me. I

saw his eyes as we came face to face with the boulder towering down upon us. For some

reason, I liked his eyes. The color of blood. I had a small, er, disturbance with blood not

being inside a person's body.

Life really did flash before my eyes. All my memories that flashed through my head, never

lasting more than a split second. I saw myself at school, eating a mustard and potato chip

sandwich I had hastily created because I fell asleep. The next one, Oichi was trying to get me

to do my homework so she waved hot, fresh taiyaki in my face. Sure enough, to the shock of

everyone in the classroom, I came in with my homework all done and 60% percent of it was

actually right.

I saw Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I playing some horror games, well, more like Yusuke and I.

Kuwabara is just too chicken to sit through all of it, but it was hilarious to watch, especially

when he screamed for his precious pet cat Eikitchi to protect him. Then it was one of our

vacation days at school and we all decided (Keiko, Yusuke, Oichi, Kuwabara, and I) to head to

the beach for the evening before going to my apartment to eat a previously prepared dinner

I slaved over earlier that morning. It was heaven for me. That "heaven" was my everything

that I worked in my life to receive.

The thought of losing it absolutely terrified me. I couldn't bear the fear from even having the

thought of it wasting away like sand being swept through my hands.

I guess that was why I fainted before the boulder smashed Hiei and me.

_What is life? I mean this in all seriousness. Did it have meaning? Well, I guessed it must have; why else would people give up theirs for another? Maybe that life was worth more? Then, in that case, were some lives held on a higher pedestal than others?_

_Wouldn't I like to know…_

Warm. If I could use a word to describe how it felt when I woke up it would have been warm. Like sitting next to a campfire and letting the wisps of dry air rush over your skin, keeping you safe from the cold of the dark night. There was the sound of an odd drumming in my ear. It was comforting as I was beginning to regain my consciousness.

_Ba-dump-er-a. Ba-dump. _

I thought it odd that the tempo was constantly changing.

It was even odder when I opened my big, brown eyes to stare back at blood ones. Then it was like instinct took over me.

My hand that was dangling limply at my side shot out towards Hiei's face. A loud smack echoed as the skin on my hand began to tingle from the impact. The tan color on Hiei's cheek started to fade into a large, red handprint. Immediately, I knew I was so screwed right now. It wasn't entirely my fault, though; it was just a natural reaction when people hover over me when I wake up.

I trained myself to be ready because there was no telling what I could wake up to when my mom had to work a late shift in the morning. One night, when I threw a party at my home, I woke up the next day dressed in a bright pink maid outfit. It took forever to clean up all the empty beer cans and unrolled toilet papers. The people who had passed out in my house were difficult to get up and rid of if you catch my drift. I was incredibly lucky that my mom's car broke down and she had to spend the entire night getting it fixed.

Besides, Hiei wasn't the first person I had ever smacked in my lifetime. You can ask Yusuke or Kuwabara or even that five dollar, half naked chick at the corner of my street who always smokes at the Seven Eleven.

Hiei dropped me on my butt on the hard stone floor.

"Ow," I cried as I rubbed my backside before standing up in an angry manner. "Why did you do that?"

He glared back at me. His eyes were flaring with so much anger. "Why did you slap me, you weak woman?"

I flinched at the way his voice was like venom. It was as if I had been bit by a snake; the bite quick and painful.

"Uh…" I stumbled on my words a little before quickly recovering. "Because I trained myself to be ready for anything when I wake up. It just so happens that I trained myself to slap anything that hovers over me!"

He scoffed. That only made my upset fire grow even more than it already was before.

I thought this was the moment where Hiei and I defined our friendship. Yes, I did just say friendship. Maybe friendship was too strong of word. I believed it was more like a rivalry of some sorts. The fights always included insults.

We were going to be the best of friends that hated each other's guts. I was okay with that. As long as we were friends nothing else really mattered.

"I can't believe I bothered to even save you," he mumbled hotly underneath his breath.

His sentence that he just said, it caught my attention.

"Saved me…"

I glanced behind him. There was the boulder that I was sure killed me. I was more than positive the chances of survival with me against that oversized rock was close to none. Unless I developed inhuman skin made completely of steel.

My eyes, full of curiosity, fell back on Hiei. He was definitely not happy, but I was looking past the glare and scowl on his face. He saved me. **He **saved **me** from certain death. I just stared at him, fascinated by his actions.

"What's with the gawking? It's annoying," he growled at me. The red in his cheek was starting to fade away.

"I was wrong about you," I said.

He just raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you were just some scary demon, but you're actually not that bad," I continued with a bright smile. "In fact, if we hang out more often, I might call you a friend. Not everyone can act like a cruel b****** while their friends are being squashed to death."

Hiei just gave a displeasured snort. "Friends are just a crutch for the weak. And I wasn't acting."

Kuwabara, Kurama, and Yusuke walked up next to me.

"Say what?" Kuwabara said in disbelief at how easily Hiei was just brushing off everything.

I knew, though. Hiei was a typical kuudere. He was like frost one minute, then, with a little sunshine, he was like dew.

Hiei pointed a finger at all of us. "Don't confuse it. The only reason I saved is because I might need your help."

I noticed how he emphasized 'might.'

With that, he made his exit to the next portion of the castle.

I still had that goofy grin plastered on my face.

Kurama gave us all a knowing smile. I couldn't tell if it contained more apology or nostalgia.

"It's his way of saying 'you're welcome,' you will learn," he explained.

Yusuke was still a little wary. "Right…"

"Well, it still ticks me off," Kuwabara stated, completely unconvinced by Kurama.

Oh, well, we would all have to learn each other first before trusting. That was what you said, right? Kazuya…

"Too cool," I mumbled in awe at the sight.

The hallway we ventured through had decorated columns. But not just any decorated columns, no; they were carved to appear as though they were a terrifying monster. It was just so odd. It was just so interesting to me.

Yusuke's communication mirror decided to go off. Kuwabara jumped right out of skin from the unexpected noise that slashed through the silence.

Yusuke reached into his pant pocket and pulled out the small device. I skipped over to where he was and leaned in to get a good look at it. It appeared like one of the compacts I had when I felt motivated enough to throw to some make-up on before heading out. In fact, I used some today; that was why I was late to school. I spent the thirty of the two hours I was late straightening my hair, putting some product in it, and applying a minimal amount of make-up.

Make-up made me feel pretty. It also helped as far as its usage as a mask. As long as I played the part, no one would even guess if there was anything wrong with me.

"What is that thing?" Kuwabara questioned. He looked intrigued by the mirror. "Is it safe?"

Or frightened would have been another good word to use.

"It's just the communication mirror that I got from Botan," Yusuke explained before flipping it open.

Sure enough, there was Botan on the little circle screen. She held up a 'peace' sign and had a huge, lovely smile on her face.

"Hello, Yusuke," she greeted. "It's Botan here in the living world. You copy?"

"Yeah, I –"

Yusuke was cut short from responding because Kuwabara pushed his face away from the mirror. He stuck his face in the way of the screen and seized part of the mirror so he could tilt it more towards him.

"Hey, Botan, this is the brave Kuwabara reporting at your service. I'm taking very good care of Urameshi," Kuwabara said in a heroic voice.

I felt the vein in my head pulse and show itself on my forehead. It really miffed me whenever Kuwabara found other girls prettier than me. I mean, he has liked me for a little over a year and he was still fawning over other females. I gave it to him that I wasn't the prettiest thing around, but I wasn't completely unattractive. At least, that was what my reflection told back to me as I whispered those words low enough for only me to hear.

Kuwabara's love struck compliments about my plain appearance or my nonexistent brains was always nice to have to make sure my ego wasn't too low. Besides, if I spent all my time knocking myself down, who would knock those losers down?

Botan gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm so glad to hear that. I've got things under control here as well, more or less. Makai insects only like to nest in depressed people's minds; that narrows down my search a bit. I also found another spy for the Saint Beasts. I just can't figure out how they're getting past the barrier. See, I think they're demons from outside the city taking orders along the wall."

We saw one of those spies Botan was talking about creep up behind her. Our stomachs dropped at the sight of his sharp teeth and deadly claws getting closer to the bluenette.

"Watch out!"

She raised her baseball bat to whack the demon on his face. The spy fell to the ground with a comical thud.

"Don't worry. Those guys are weaklings," she assured. Her mouth turned into a frown and she went on with some bad news for us. "The real challenge is finding those Makai insects. I've only caught fifteen of those buggers –"

"I saw what you did there," I interrupted with a small chuckle.

I saw her lips smile for a split second before continuing with her previous sentence.

"And I've been searching for nearly an entire day."

"Don't worry, baby, you'll –" Kuwabara was quickly cut off thanks to Yusuke and I's hits to his face.

Yusuke was able to grab back the mirror from Kuwabara during the unfair squabble. He held it sort of low, so my face would show up more on the other end because I was so sho…sho…shor…

I can't say it.

"Fifteen that's not much help," Yusuke complained to her. He was certainly upset about the lack of progress on Botan's end. He should have given her more credit, considering she was all by herself, searching for a bunch of bugs hidden inside of people.

"Yusuke, finding the people controlled by the insect takes time," Botan said. The spy that was knocked out from before started to wake up again. She slammed her bat on his head and down he fell to the ground again. "That's why you need to get that whistle."

"Okay, we're trying but this castle is kind of rough," Yusuke tried to explain the lack of progress on his part.

"Well, of course it is; no one's ever survived before," she stated. With that she closed the mirror, ending our call.

"Sounds like the odds are in our favor," I commented in a sarcastic tone.

Yusuke turned to me. "What? You don't think we can handle it?"

I shook my head at him. My lips tugged into a sheepish smile as a light blush of embarrassment swept across me. Pointing a thumb over at Kurama and Hiei, I continued on to answer Yusuke's question.

"I think Ginger and Anti-Frodo can handle it, but as for Kuwabara, you, and myself," I said, then paused. I took in a sharp breath. "We are done for."

Kuwabara had his eyebrow raised. He mumbled underneath his breath.

"Anti-Frodo…"

Yusuke scowled at me. He took several steps toward me so he was towering over me. Judging from his actions, he was attempting to make me feel intimidated but he would have to do better than that.

"Y'know, Erine, I do possess some spiritual abilities; like back at that alley," Yusuke said. "I am much more than what I appear to be. So is Kuwabara, he can do some pretty amazing things. The real question is what can you do?"

My jaw clenched as I stared up at him. It felt as though all the anger that rose from my chest at his comment went to my eyes. I wanted to burn him with my vision. The image of him lighting on fire popped in my brain and that gave me some satisfaction.

He did bring up a good point. What can I do? What labeled me as extraordinary? Then, it hit me.

"Well," I huffed, inching my head closer to Yusuke's. "I have a strong sixth sense. I can see ghosts, that is why I never went on those historical field trips."

He gave me a deadpanned look. "Yeah, because seeing ghosts definitely can help us out here. Got anything else you can do?"

I placed a finger on my chin as I said a list of things I could do. "I can Erine Kick some goons, I guess, confuse them with my brain… what else? Oh, I can make a mean dish of udon."

"While I do enjoy your meals, Erine, I don't think food can really help us in this situation."

"What do you want from me, Yusuke!?"

"I want you to be useful!"

"I am so useful!"

I felt a weird tingling in the back of my head. It was gone as soon as it was there. Odd…

"Can you fight?"

"Erine Kick~!"

"That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does!"

"Uh, guys…"

"Shut up, Kuwabara!"

The prickling sensation came back. It was like it was trying to attack my brain. I couldn't take it anymore.

I was seething when I wheeled around to face Hiei.

He was staring at me with those red orbs. The expression on his face appeared almost as if he were focusing on something. Was that him?

"Will you stop that?" I growled at him. What was he trying to do to me anyway? Was he trying to probe my brain or something? It wasn't like he would find anything useful in there. I don't have any smarts at all.

Which explains why my grades are not at their best. However, they were still better than Yusuke's because actually showed up to school more than he did. One would be surprised how much your grades were affected by just showing up to that place. If I did ever make a good grade, which was once in a blue moon, it was only because I either cheated or I was getting graded for art or cooking class.

"What are you trying to do, shoot my brain with little arrows, Anti-Frodo?" I questioned.

"Hn," Hiei scoffed. He turned his head away from me, diverting his attention to whatever was interesting on the stone wall. His crimson eyes glanced back over to me in annoyance. "There's something off about you, Baka Onna, and I don't like it."

"B-baka Onna? I am not a stupid woman, for your information, I happen to be making straight D's in all my core classes," I retorted back.

Yusuke's jaw dropped. "How are you doing better than me?"

I gave him a raspberry. "It's called collaboration with fellow, failing students."

"Oh, you cheater!"

"It's not cheating, it's collaborating."

I trailed in the middle of the group. These guys were easy to get along with. They were comfortable to communicate with, even Hiei. Well, maybe not Hiei, but still, he did save my life back there. As repayment, I promised myself to treat him like any other friend I had.

That meant that the degrading of his pride began today for him.

"So, what's an Anti-Frodo, anyway?" Kuwabara questioned.

"Well, you see, Hiei is short and so is Frodo, but when Frodo went to go destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, he didn't pull through. So, when Hiei actually pulled, he became the Anti-Frodo; he fulfilled his task that only he could bear," I explained.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hiei give me a deadpan expression. I chose to ignore it. I wasn't about to let him spoil my mood.

"Hey, Kurama," Yusuke said, turning to the red-haired boy.

The entire group stopped.

"What do you know about these Four Saint people?" Yusuke questioned him. "Botan pushed us down that hole like a couple of cows and I didn't have a chance to ask her."

"She wouldn't have told you much I am afraid," Kurama responded.

Kuwabara gave him an incredulous look at his straightforward statement.

"Ever since the barrier wall was raised around this city, Spirit World intelligence nearly forgot this place existed," Kurama said.

"So, then, what do you?" I asked him.

He gave us a small smile of reassurance before continuing on to answer my question. "Let's just say that when you see their bodies you may be very surprised."

"Terrified. Isn't that more like it?"

I jumped at the new voice. It was low and menacing.

"Eh? Who said that?" Kuwabara called out.

The voice just laughed at Kuwabara's question. The torches that lit the stone hallway began to fade away. The lack of light created a circle around the five of us.

I took small steps away from the darkness and into the circle of light. Kuwabara's and Kurama's jacket materials touched against mine, so I knew I had to stop or else I would bump into to someone. My eyes kept moving around for any sign of movement. There was nothing around.

The beat of my heart quickened as I was expecting something to leap out from the shadows and attack.

'Would they go for me?' I thought. 'Or would they try to attack the stronger member of the group?'

When I happened to glance down, I noticed my knees were shaking just a bit. I started thinking comforting words to myself to calm me down. Or was it to keep me from appearing to be weak? I couldn't tell; my head was spinning from the apprehension that was surrounding my conscious.

The laughter stopped and the voice resonated throughout the hallway. "There is a door behind you, please, take it."

The light was returned and I could see a lot better than before. Sure enough, there was a giant, bronze door that wasn't there before hand.

My heartbeat slowly returned to its normal pace. The shaking in my body ceased, but the feeling of uneasiness did not disappear, though. Still, I mustered up the best cover up smile before skipping over to the door. I turned back to the rest of them.

"Well, he did say 'please.' I think it's only fair to see what's beyond this here door," I said, tapping it with the back of my fist.

Yusuke and Kuwabara opened up the door first.

I was holding my breath, expecting some monstrous creature to be watching us. There was nothing of the sort in there. It was just a chamber with more lit torches posted upon the columns lined up against the walls. Way down at the other end was a stair case. If my amateur level of investigating was correct then that flight of stairs was our way to the next portion of the castle.

"Ladies first," Yusuke said.

I turned and smiled at Hiei.

"Come on, Hiei, you're first," I teased, waving my arm toward the door in a dramatic fashion.

He just glared at me. I felt the prickly sensation return to my head. Was he trying to kill me via mind crushing me? I guessed that was probably the right choice.

This time ,however, the pressure was worse than before. This time it felt like he was actually trying to attack my brain with rockets. I winced a little at the pain. My hand went up to grip the side of my head. It was reflex; a way to somehow make the pain not hurt as much.

"What is your problem? Seriously, just quit whatever you're doing, it's annoying," I snarled at him through my clenched teeth.

As quickly as it came, the pain was gone.

I let my hand fall back down to my side, taking a nice, relaxed breath as I did so.

"Hey, Erine, is something wrong?" Yusuke asked me.

I put on a cheerful(fake) smile. "Nope, nothing. C'mon, let's go, I'm starting to get hungry. All I ate today was a piece of taiyaki!"

Yusuke just shrugged off my 'headache.' He turned his body away from me and walked in. Kuwabara and Kurama joined him. Only a couple of seconds later did Hiei decide to enter inside the chamber.

As he passed me, I saw his eyes look at me. It wasn't an aggressive gaze that he normally had on. I wouldn't even have called the glance he shot my way friendly. It was like he was calculating me.

His eyes started right into mine. No, it was more like looking though my eyes, into my head. In his mind, my skin; my eyes; my light brown, shoulder length, hair; they didn't matter to him. All he seemed to be interested in was what laid inside of all that. He wanted to know what was being wasted away in school.

As if my brain was anything special. I could barely keep a 2.0 GPA. I was still beating out Yusuke, though, which was accomplishment enough for me.

He jerked his head away. That action told me that I was another insignificant bug to him again.

I trailed behind him, just staring holes in the back of his head. However, I did catch Kurama glancing back at Hiei and I. His gaze was investigative.

Yusuke picked up a torch that was along the wall. He held it far enough away from him before tossing it into the empty space of the chamber.

Nothing happened.

I went to open my mouth to make a sarcastic comment about Yusuke's nervousness. The moment I sucked in air to talk, the floor appeared to be moving. Out from the stone ground of the chamber morphed a head and back. Then the rest of the body came along with it. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I took a step back.

There was a rock demon, completely made of stone. Its tail lashed out into the air. The demon's eyes glowed at us through the darkness.

It gave us an evil chuckle. "Welcome, trespassers."

Kuwabara flipped. "Okay! I'm surprised!"

I nodded my head with him, keeping my gaze upon this creature.

"I am Genbu of the Four Saint Beast," he introduced himself. "You have a request before you die!"

I turned to Kurama. "You called it, Ginger."

"Yeah, tell me how a beast is a saint, I'm lost," Yusuke commented.

Genbu completely ignored Yusuke.

"This stairwell is the only way to the castle tower. You can either go up there on your own after you defeat me or you can be dragged up there once you've stopped breathing," he said. "Why don't you all attack me at once? Then, the last one

He raised his tail up high and slammed it on the ground. The force made the ground shake a bit. His hit created a small crater where his tail landed.

"Why don't you all attack me at once? Then, the last one won't feel lonely," he taunted.

"He's a rock, Urameshi! How are we suppossed to beat a rock? How are we supposed to fight against a talking rock?" Kuwabara shouted.

I scoffed at him and showed him my opened palm. "With paper, duh~"

He just sweat dropped.

Kurama stepped forward.

"I will fight him," he stated. He said it like any of us had a choice to go against him.

"Are you sure?" Yusuke asked, throwing him a disbelieving glance.

"It would be ill-advised for all of us to attack without first knowing his power," he explained. He turned back to us. "Besides, I can hardly let Hiei get all the credit for this mission, now can I?"

Hiei just turned his head away from him.

"Oh, yes, yaoi in live action," I squeeled. I held my hands to my mouth to cover up my fangirl noises.

"Okay, no more adult anime for you, anymore," Yusuke said.

"You shall not deprive me of daily fix," I growled at him.

Kurama kept walking until he was only a few feet away from Genbu.

"You're goin to die one by one? I can do that, too," Genbu said in a carefree manner.

It made chills run up my spine a little.

Yusuke clenched his fist. "Hey, wouldn't we be better off trying to lure him to that drop down cieling or something?"

Hiei's emotionless voice decided to return. "Obviously, you are underestimating Kurama."

We all looked at him with expecting faces on.

"Do you know why I chose him to be my partner? To avoid fighting him myself. Watch he is more cutthroat than I am when it comes to battle and unbelievabley precise."

'It's like he just wants me to believe in their yaoi relationship,' I though to myself. 'Oh, well, if they do love each other, it will be like a step up from a cigarrette to a cigar for me. Speaking of which...'

"I don't know you guys, it's still a talking rock," Kuwabara said.

Kurama opened his mouth, starting the battle. "Sir, the first move is yours."

The demon just chuckled lightly to himself as if he had made a joke in his head.

Why was he just standing there? Why wasn't he attacking Kurama?

Then I saw it. His tail! It was going into the stone ground of room. Yusuke probably noticed it too judging by the way he let out a sharp breath of air.

"Hey, stone man is doing something freaky with his tail," He shouted, pointing at the tail behind the massive stone body.

From behind Kurama, Genbu's tail morphed from the floor.

'Do not want,' I though to myself as a sweatdrop went down my head.

Kurama sensed Genbu's tail and turned around to full see it. The tail came after him with some speed. His face tensed a bit at the sight of the oncoming attack. He jumped up into the air, hoping to avoid the attack all together without sustaining any damage. However, his attempt to be missed by the sharp rock tail did not succeed.

The tail slashed across his lower torso. His face contorted in pain as he let out a small grunt. From the newly created wound, a miniscule amount of blood splatted out and littered the floor above him.

"Kurama!"

Kurama landed back down on the floor, gripping his stomach.

Genbu let out an amused chuckle. "Thanks to my body structure I can become one with any type of rock. With a little rearranging, I can make any stone my tail."

"Yeah, we're in trouble," Kuwabara said.

I puff my cheeks. "No, we aren't, Kurama with think of something...somehow."

"And since this whole chamber is made of stone, I have you surrounded. There's on where to run!" Genbu shouted.

Kurama struggled to stand up, but somehow manages with his wound.

"Oh, man, now he's wounded," Yusuke muttered underneath his breath in a frustrated tone.

Kuwabara, meanwhile, was biting his nails before pointing over to Kurama

"We should help," he said, his voice shaking in fear of the rock monster.

Kurama heard us. He turned his head to look at us. His face looked slightly contorted in pain and there were small beads of sweat running down his face.

"There is no need," he reassured. "I am hurt, but he will not take me by surprise, again."

"Heh, wait until you see the full extent of my power," Genbu said. "Then you won't be so confident."

His entire body began to sink into the floor. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I gasped slightly as we watched him perform his new trick.

"He's putting himself into the floor," Yusuke whispered.

"Do something, Kurama," Kuwabara shouted at his red-haired companion.

"Don't just stand there," I yelled along with Kuwabara.

I felt my heartbeat in my ears. It has been awhile since I felt such an anxiety rush this powerful rush through me (except maybe the wall and boulder incident). Honestly, I was scarred for Kurama and his safety.

'No, I should have more faith in my friends,' I thought. 'Friends...'

Kurama could only watch as Genbu sank into the floor until he disappeared.

It was silent.

"Now, he could be anywhere," Yusuke said while gazing across the corridor frantically.

"I can't even sense Genbu's energy," Kuwabara added.

He, too, was looking around in attempt to find the massive rock demon.

'If Kuwabara can't find him, maybe...' I though to myself. 'Okay, put your mind to work, Erine!'

I focused all of my brain. The sensation was a little weird; it felt like I was being sucked into my mind. Clearing out my thoughts proved to be harder than I originally intended, but I eventually found my peaceful state. It was complicated - how to call upon the use of my spiritual awareness to be used in something like tracking. The energy normally was just there and I didn't have to put any effort.

I had never ran into someone or something that had the ability to mask its spirit energy like now. And the more I tried to concentrate the harder it was becoming to even hone in on my energy.

I groaned. "I'm done."

From behind Kurama, Genbu jumped out from the floor.

Kurama must have been expecting something like that because he said, "Same old trick." He dodged the oncoming punch that came from above him with ease. However, then Genbu's tail shot out from the direction Kurama was going in.

"Watch out for his tail!" Yusuke shouted. (Kuwabara and I were freaking out behind him, as well.)

Now, from both sides Kurama was getting attacked from.

He swiftly moved through the air to avoid the punch. Then, he maneuvered so that he flew overtop of the sharp tail made of rock before making a flip and landing on his feet.

My mouth dropped at the sight. I couldn't believe how amazing this guy was, and he was only a year older than me. I though I was in love~!

Genbu disappeared into the stone surroundings yet again as another eery silence swept in.

"Where did that freak go now?" Kuwabara mumbled angrily underneath his breath.

From where Kurama was standing, the beginnings of Genbu's fingers formed. Kurama was able to notice them quick enough to jump into the air as the rest of Genbu came through. Even though, Kurama successfully avoided the grab, the tail was another issue entirely. It shot out at him like before. And just like before, Kurama spun in the air to miss the attack by a short distance.

Genbu sunk back down to the ground as soon as Kurama landed.

He cackled and his voice echoed out. "You'll never defeat me by just running away."

To my surprise, Kurama let out a soft chuckle, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Yes, Genbu, I believe you are right," he agreed with his opponent.

He moved his hand to reach into his red hair and pulled something out of it. Lifting his hand up, he displayed a beautiful, crimson rose. It was sparkling just a bit, or maybe that was just my imagination.

"A flower?" Yusuke said.

"What ever floats your boat, I guess," I commented, having a stunned expression on my face. I turned to face Hiei. "Just feeling the 'cutthroat', Anti-Frodo."

"Okay, that's a little weird. If he's trying to win the beast over I don't think that is a good idea," Kuwabara said.

We were just...stunned? Appalled? Flabbergasted?

Hiei closed his eyes and gave quiet laugh as if this were an inside joke.

"It's no ordinary flower," Kurama said to us.

The petals on the rose began to fall off. They danced around the small space where we all were and gave a nice aroma to the once musty place. It smelled of fresh linens and a mix of lavender. The petals sometimes touched my cheek and they felt so soft and sort of waxy against my peachy skin.

And from that flower, Kurama transformed it into a thorned whip.

"Rose Whip!"

Help me, I am falling in love...

"Well, everything is coming up roses," Yusuke said. His expression gave away that he was uncomfortable in this scene with the petals showering around us.

"At least it smells nice," I said, trying to make the situation a little better for these two. I feel quite happy in this situation right now. I do happen to like smelly stuff.

"It smells girly. I don't think I like it," Kuwabara disagreed with me.

"Oh, sure, I guess he should be a tough guy like you and be obsessed with kittens," Yusuke jabbed at him, finishing off his joke with a laugh. I laughed along with him.

"Shut up!"

Genbu's evil laughter filled the corridor as the rose petals vanished from the scene.

"You still don't understand your problem. What good would a fancy whip do if you can't tell where I am?"

"Yes, not being able to find you is a problem," Kurama stated, more to himself than to Genbu.

"You just can't be scared can you? Well, I'll soon change that."

Kurama closed his eyes in concentration. We all help our breath in anticipation. Why am I rhyming right now is that your question? Well, I don't really know if that will give you some revelation.

"Found you," he shouted as he lashed his whip to the cieling.

Genbu was morphing in from the cieling just as Kurama sent his whip up. It caught Genbu by surprise and there was no time to be able to dodged or counter Kurama's move. The whip surround Genbu and I could see within his eyes he could tell that this was it for the battle.

"It's over. The thorns on Kurama's whip can cut through any substance, including solid stone," Hiei said.

Kurama sliced Genbu into to rubble. The battle was over. The pieces of stone fell down to the stone floor, making a unorganized symphony of sounds. His body all cut up, though, not completely demolished.

"Uh, how did you find me?"

"Your smell," Kurama answered. "After filling the room with the sweet aroma your putride smell was easy for me to find."

Kurama...he was smart that was for sure. I never would have been able to figure something out like that.

We all rushed over to him.

"Well, that's not fair. Why can't any of my fights end that quick?" Yusuke said.

"You beat him one blow. Now that's what I call a whimp," Kuwabara said, looking down at the defeated Genbu.

Hiei scoffed.

"Here it comes," I muttered underneath my breath.

"You idiots, it only looked easy because Kurama was the one fighting, if you had fought you would have died in under a minute," Hiei said.

That comment riled Kuwabara up quite a bit. He leaned down toward Hiei and spat, "Why does everything you say want me to bash your face in?"

"Hn."

"Listen, I just happened to place third in Master Genkai's fighting -"

I didn't know what was going on so I just tuned them out and settled for staring at the remains of Genbu. For a guard, he wasn't that tough to beat. I think that if Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I combined our strength together we probably could have beaten him as well. I'm just glad I didn't have to fight him myself. Besides, Kurama did a good job anyway.

I turned to move along to the stares when I saw it. The stones started to move.

"It seems my fight is not over," Kurama said.

We all stepped back away from the remnant of Genbu's body. We gapped at it as it began to reassemble itself to look just like it did before.

Genbu's head chuckled. "Who's dead?"

The arms of his body picked up his head and placed it on his neck. "Not me."

"Uh, guys, I think he is putting himself back together," Kuwabara commented.

'I'll let his obviousness slip for now.'

"You can disessmble me all you like, I will come back together everytime. Actually it makes for a very nice attack!"

Genbu detaches some of his body parts to launch them at Kurama.

He slashes them with his whip with ease just like he did when he "defeated" Genbu before. The shattered into miniscule sized pieces.

"Right in the head, let's see him come back now," Yusuke said.

"No, there is more to do than just that," I countered.

Genbu reassembled himself yet again behind Kurama.

"Okay, that was luck," Yusuke said in an attempt to make light of the situation.

"Let's end this! How would you like to be stoned to death?"

Genbu sent a flurry of stones at Kurama. He tried to slash them up like he did before but wasn't able to complete his intended task. The stones slashed all around his body as he attempted to dodge out of the way. He fell on the floor.

The stones gathered up high and reformed for another attack.

"Hey, look, there are coming again," I shouted.

"Kurama!" Yusuke yelled out ot his friend.

Kurama just stood up and took the attack as it came.

"What the hell is he doing? He is going to get killed," Yusuke said in a panicked voice.

The stones ripped through his clothes and skin, drawing fresh cuts. He gripped his chest in pain. From the exhaustion and injuries he kneeled on to the ground, panting quite a bit.

"You're not even fighting back. Those injuries must have made you insane," Genbu teased.

Kurama chuckled a little at that. He stood up and glanced back at Genbu, who was now reattaching himself yet again.

"Yes, now I'm sure of it, now you're laughing at nothing!"

It took me a second as a gazed Genbu's new "look."

I burst out into fit of uncontrolled giggles.

"Look! Look! His head it's-it's.."

"Wait, how did you get on the cieling?" Genbu questioned Kurama.

Yusuke went off into laughter along with Kuwabara. He pointed at Genbu's form.

Let us just say his head was now in between his legs, younger audiences.

"I've heard of brass balls before, but this is just hilarious," Yusuke taunted as tears started to form in his eyes.

My chest was starting to hurt from the amount of air I was using to laugh. I gripped onto Kuwabara's uniform sleeve to steady myself from falling over.

"You're telling me," I managed to say in between laughs.

"I'd like to see him use the toilet," Kuwabara added in.

Genbu was appalled at the situation. "What did you do to me?"

From behind his back, Kurama pulled out a rock. It was glowing a red color. For some reason, it reminded me almost like a heart that is used to pump blood. "I took this."

"What's that?"

"I believe this is the equivalent of the hypothalimus portion of your brain; it regulates all the functions of your body, including the process of putting you back together. It seems to relay an energy signal whenever you separate, making it very easy to find."

"Point for the red-headed genius," I yelled, pumping my fist in the air.

"You can't do this. Give it back to me," Genbu said.

To answer his question, Kurama tossed the rock into the air.

"Give it back!"

"Farewell..."

He slashed his whip and cut it in half.

Genbu began to release a large amount of light and then...he exploded.

"Cool.." I mumbled underneath my breath.

"I don't think he liked that very much," Kuwabara said.

"Good work, Kurama," Yusuke praised him.

Kurama let out a small grunt before bending down on one knee to rest. He placed a hand over his arm, where blood was staining his uniform sleeve.

We all rushed over to him.

I got down on knelt down next to him. From close up, he looked more hurt than what I had thought. All along his body there were cuts that dripped blood. There wasn't much to do since there wasn't any medical supplies lying around to be immediately used for healing. Still...

"If Kurama is injured we're going to have some problems," Hiei said

Kurama gazed up at Yusuke in sadness. "I'm sorry, Yusuke."

Yusuke gave him a thumbs up. "Nah, you deserve yourself a break anyway."

"Yeah, I'll handle the next one," Kuwabara said. The look in his eye, it was full of confidence. I wondered if one day I could have that look to. To have that expression of self-conficence and display it another way other than bullying others.

I gripped the top of my uniform sleeve and ripped it clean off.

"Erine, what are you doing?" Kurama asked.

I moved his hand out of the way. With my meager first-aid bandage, I began to wrap the material around the wound on his arm. It was firm, but not like a chokehold. Some of his blood got on my fingertips and I quickly wipped it off, so I wouldn't have to worry about starting at it. I gave an inspection of my handy work; it wasn't much but it would hold.

'For how long?' I though to myself.

"There," I said, filling my voice with optimism. "That should be enough for now."

"Thank you, Erine," Kurama said.

"No problem. Now..."

"Uh...Erine, why are you holding on the my hand?"

"Kurama, have my children."

"What?" (Kuwabara)

"I beg your pardon?"

"I have never seen such a graceful, kind, smart boy like you. I'd think you'd be the perfect partner to raise kids with."

"What to say to that, I'm not really sure."

"Say yes and I'll cook for you everyday and clean and take care of the kids!"

"No, Erine, do that for me!"

"Shut up, Kuwabara! Don't you see that I'm trying to get engaged!"

"Erine, I appreciate the offer but-"

"We're too young?"

"Erm..."

"I'll take that as a yes. We shall be married tomorrow!"

"Baka onna..."

"Shut it, Anti-Frodo!"


	3. Byakko, The White Tiger

watch?v=jKXYcxM4I2U&feature=related

My brother and father died when I was around seven years old. That was seven years ago. Had it really been that long? It felt like it was just yesterday when I figured out that my brother and father weren't coming back from their hiking trip. The pain felt real.

The sadness. The devastation. The loneliness. These were the things that I was given that spring afternoon. I didn't even know they were dead until several days after the fact.

My mother was incredibly good at lying. The way she smoothed my hair while some of her tears fell onto it pulled me into a fantasy. They would be back in soon, she said. They were just on a little hike, she said. I believed her.

Days passed. I confronted my mother as to where they were. She collapsed into tears on the spot, falling to the floor. I didn't remember what I felt at that moment. It was a mix of everything, I guessed.

And I hugged my mom. I told her that it was okay and that we'll see them when we go to the "Playground in the Sky" as my brother used to call it. All the while, though, I was choking on my sobs. My eyes felt puffy from the tears and nothing would have made me happier than to see father and brother swoop in to see what was wrong.

They didn't come.

Over the hill they went, I heard. Father hit a small rock while driving up a hill to get to the start of the trail. The car tumbled down, slamming into trees that were sticking out of the side of the hill before smashing into the Inai Creek. The death had been instant. They didn't suffer in pain for too long.

The car was found several hours later. My father was still strapped into the driver's seat. My brother wasn't there. The police said he must have been flung out of the window because the seat belt wasn't on him. I warned him about wearing his seat belt, but he always scoffed it off and told me not to worry about him.

There was a search for my brother. It lasted for half a year before I gave up. My mother held on, even now she held on to the slim hope that he would come one day. I had stopped having faith in a dream. It was just a fantasy; nothing more and nothing less.

My brother was named Senya. I had a picture of him in my room and prayed in for him to have a good afterlife. He had my father's slick, black hair and his eyes were a nice dark brown. He wanted to play the piano when he got older and be taught how to use a katana in case he needed to know. His favorite pastime, he said, was when he would let me lie in his lap and sing me lullabies he made especially for me.

I loved my brother. And he loved me.

But love doesn't bring back the dead. Love doesn't guarantee a safe journey. It doesn't mean that we will all get a happy ending.

My father's name was hardly spoken in the house; we all called him Papa. It was Yurata, and I remembered one time my mother called him Yura-Yura. My father worked at a technological engineering company. Sometimes he would bring in stuff he was working on and showed us how to assemble and make things from the tiniest of chips. He looked like a kid whenever he was explaining things like that to us.

He was a great man. My father loved more than anyone I had ever met. He never got angry with any of us. He'd spoil us. Too much probably.

He was gone, though. Which meant no more piggybacks along the city streets, or unlimited amount of sweets when I wanted them. There was nobody to ruffle my hair, or make me get up so I could go to elementary school, or tell me it was okay that I got a bad grade and that I would do better next time.

There wasn't anybody there. It was just me. I didn't have my mother. It was me. I was the one to comfort myself when I needed to cry and it was my hard work that got me any food I wanted.

It was my hands that prepared the food that would adorn the table. It was my hands, that were rough, that would clench so tight it would make blood drip from them.

It was my heart that cried far worse than any amount of tears my mother did.

Our plan of getting up to the next floor of the tower was successful. But Kurama had to do a lot to get us there. He was injured, which wasn't good for any of us. If the wounds were as bad as I had thought then fighting against whatever else may lurk ahead may prove to be quite difficult. If they get any harder to beat than what we had just witnessed, that is.

We took a quick stop in one of the hallways. Good thing there was a nice, open window there to gaze out through. Not there was much there, just the endless wasteland we had once been on. The dark purple clouds made a nice touch to the scenery. It was such a lovely view, especially after all that has happened.

The world just loved us with all of its heart by giving us some inspirational sights.

Yusuke looked over to Kurama. "Kurama, how terrible is that wound?"

Kurama placed a hand on his stomach. He winced a little. An instinct called for me to reach out to him, but I ignored it thinking he could manage. Besides, I thought he was still a little wary of me because of my proposal. Speaking of which, he never really answered; so I took that as a maybe.

"Fine, as long as I can walk," he answered.

"He'll be fine, but he's in no shape to fight," Hiei stated. "That means we have three fighters left and a one woman, and two of them are worthless."

"Hey," I said, putting a hand to my chest in a fake display of being hurt. "You shouldn't talk about Yusuke like that."

"He was talking about you, Erine," Yusuke snapped back.

Kuwabara stood up from his leaning position on the window.

"I don't know Urameshi. I think Hiei should stop talking down about himself," he said with a goofy grin plastered upon his face.

"He was talking about you, too, Kuwabara!"

Kuwabara threw the rest of us a smug smirk. "Is that so? Well, maybe I should show you something." He placed his fists on his hips. "What in the world do you think I was doing for the last six months while you were off training with Genkai? Letting you get better than me? Nu-uh!"

He held out his hand. I could feel all of his spirit energy being gathered into his hand. The energy was rushing into a single position all at once that the sensation that it brought practically overpowered my spirit awareness. Kuwabara's entire hand began to glow a blue hue. Then it started to change into a mix between orange and yellow.

All of his energy transformed into an orb the size of his palm.

"Spirit Sword!"

He manipulated his energy into stretching out to form a, er, well, sword made from his energy.

"Whoa," I said, staring interestedly at the sword.

Kuwabara pointed the sword at Yusuke, at a rather close proximity I might add.

"Hey, what it," Yusuke warned. He had thrown his arms in front of him in a gesture to tell Kuwabara "better not try it or I'll kill you."

So, far the stats were as such in my dating sim:

Kurama: 1000000000000000000000000000 000

Kuwabara: 85

Yusuke: (Would be about a 90 because he and I were such good friends, but I love seeing him with Keiko much better than with me)

Hiei: Negative infinity

Kuwabara pulled his sword away from Yusuke.

"You see what I've learned, Urameshi?" He said, grinning so widely and with so much pride. "I don't got to use the tip of the wooden sword to make it work anymore." He chuckled. "It's just my pure energy. And I'll bet it can kick the crap out of your Spirit Gun."

Yusuke gave him a rather….colorful finger. I have to keep it rather vague for the younger audiences.

"That depends on what finger I use."

"Well, as it turns out, he's only partially worthless," Hiei commented.

Kuwabara then pointed his sword at Hiei. "Okay, want to die?!"

Hiei smirked. "I dare you."

At that, Kuwabara took a step toward him, but Yusuke and I moved to intervene.

"Hey, now, let's just get along here," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, let him live," Kuwabara mumbled. "He'll be saying sorry once he sees what else he can do."

I felt Kuwabara gather more spirit energy in his palm. The power that was being built was incredible, and I felt somehow impressed by Kuwabara. He wasn't the weakling that Yusuke made him out to be. He was actually one of the strongest people I had ever met. For a second, I felt as though I was at the bottom at an imaginary food chain that was created for this world.

The spirit sword began to extend until it collided with the stone ceiling. A few loose rocks clattered to the floor.

"Wow, it even comes with a spear attachment," Yusuke commented, sarcastically.

Kuwabara laughed heartily, obviously proud with his progression. "I can make it any size I want it to be."

He retracted it back into his hand before making it disappear altogether.

"I know when Genbu showed up I got a little," he paused to think for a second. "What's the word? Freaked! But that's not going to happen from now on my friends because Kuwabara's got the good stuff."

His face suddenly went a pale shade and my heart skipped a beat. He started to wobble. I knew what was going to happen next. He tumbled down to the ground in an ungraceful manner which pretty much counteracted everything he just did before.

"Don't worry guys," Kuwabara mumbled. "Sometimes the sword makes me a little dizzy."

Yusuke leaned down toward him. "You're not making us look good."

I giggled a little but stopped when I felt someone's eyes creating holes in my head. Whirling around, I scowled straight back at Hiei.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked him.

He glared harder at me. "The fool has proven his skill. Where is yours?"

I opened my mouth to shout some profanity at him, but a though struck me.

What did I have? I wasn't intelligent like Kurama was. Not even close, like a million miles away 'not even close.' My speed could be compared to a slug's with Hiei, who was shorter than me. A Spirit Gun was not in my arsenal of attacks. Nor was the Spirit Sword, I might add.

'Think, Erine, what do you have?' I shouted at myself.

The skills I did have didn't extend that far I realized. I had really high spirit awareness, not which really helped with fighting. Now, I did have the ability to fight, but not against giant demons threatening to destroy the world and all humanity. No, I fought against punks. And by 'punks' I mean anybody that ticked me off enough to make me throw a punch.

Though, I guess when I was angered enough my strength increased by a lot.

"I guess, just spirit awareness," I said, scratching my head.

Hiei scoffed. "As expected from a frail woman like you."

Something inside snapped.

Yusuke had already had me in a neck hold by the time I lunged at Hiei. My hands clawed at his green uniform, itching to get a good hold on Hiei's throat. This male managed to somehow surpass those irritating prison wardens, I mean, teachers and their unique ways of frustrating me to no end. His presences made me want to wheel around and punch a brick to dust. Was it so difficult to just get along with me?

He was so infuriating. Hiei acted as though he was all that. He wasn't anywhere close to what he makes himself out to be. Besides, being super quick and probably has demon strength like Genbu and Kurama, that is. Other than that he was just some jerk.

A bigger jerk than me when I was on _that _every month I would have said. Ask anybody who had caught me in one of my more emotional moments and they would have told you that I was not to be approached.

Even Yusuke was a little frightened of me when I was going into one of those phases. As such, my friends normally avoided me, which only served to make me more upset than I already was.

There was a long string of curses that left my mouth as my fingers wanted to just obliterate him. They went along the lines of 'you're-a-jerk-go-away-I-hate-you!'

Hiei didn't seem the least bit intimidated by my manly power. He merely turned his eyes to whatever was so interesting on the stone wall next to him.

"That is it," I yelled.

Letting a low growl, I gripped Yusuke's wrist. I heard him gasp, but I didn't even bother with his newfound fears. Taking his hand, I pulled his arm in a position that it was not supposed to be in. He let out a small yelp before I let go of him.

He released his hold on me as he stumbled as far away as possible.

Hiei had, to my surprise, had actually started taking some interest in what was going on around him. His red eyes never left mine as I stalked up to him. I could feel the air around me start cracking with the rage that I was letting go.

The jerk didn't even flinch when I grabbed him. I pulled him so we were mere inches apart, but I wasn't getting "lost in his crimson eyes" or "realizing how close we were and found myself at a loss for words." The chances of Hiei and I to even be friends is the possibility of an apple orchard to grow a peach in its harvesting. No way, no how we were going to become anything close to being friendly with each other. I would rather be stuck in the same room with Yusuke for a full year than with Hiei for only a few minutes.

"Listen you," I hissed at him. My tongue clicked in my mouth from anger. "I am tired of you thinking I am weak. I am a **strong** woman and I don't take s*** from jerks like you. You hear me?"

I lifted up my hand above my head. Balling it into a fist, I leaned back to punch Hiei clear in the face.

Too bad Yusuke's communication mirror went off as soon as I went to slug Hiei's ugly face.

Pulling it out of his pocket, Yusuke flipped it open.

Botan appeared on the screen, appearing quite concerned and frazzled.

"Yusuke, you've got to hurry," she pleaded from the other side of the communication mirror.

I let my hold on Hiei slip as I was starting to pay more attention to Botan than whatever was going on with him.

"What's the matter, Botan?" Yusuke questioned.

She disappeared of screen for a second, before returning again.

"Listen, Yusuke, I think the Saint Beasts have launched another wave of insects," Botan said. "I've found a whole back next to an elementary school."

I rushed over next to Yusuke upon hearing that information.

"Hold up, they tried to take over little kids?" I asked in pure disbelief. If that was the case, then what about the depressed people? I was actually quite happy when I was younger, as were the rest of the people my age, I don't see how any of them would be depressed.

Botan nodded. "That's right."

"Wait, I thought you said that the insects only nest in the minds of depressed people," Yusuke said.

"That is because depressed people are more easily influenced," she explained. "The same is also true for children. If bugs get into them, I'm afraid –"

She looked up with a gasp. On the other end, we heard a low growl, and then Botan was no longer on the mirror's screen. The camera was shaking a little, and I could hear her yelp out at something.

"Okay, you're afraid. I get it," Yusuke said.

I whacked him over the head, taking the communication mirror from him. He rubbed his head, glaring at him. I ignored him, though.

"Botan, are you okay?" I asked.

There was no answer from her. I couldn't get a good view of what was going on because whatever she was doing was causing her to shake the mirror violently. Panic was starting to set in.

"Botan," I called for her.

Her face popped back up on the screen, but it was still shaking a little. The background was moving behind her, so I guessed she was running away from whatever had made that growl. She was breathing a little hard.

"Sorry, Erine, but I am being chased now," she explained.

"What?" I said. "By who?"

She glanced back before turning back to answer. "By another guy being controlled by the Makai insects. And this one looks especially unfriendly."

"Just keep running for as long as you can," I told her. "We'll try to hurry up and get rid of the Saint Beasts, okay?"

She nodded. "Gotcha, and hurry up, please!"

The transmission was disconnected. I shut the communication mirror.

'I'll keep this for now,' I thought before shoving it inside of my sports bra.

It made the left side of my chest look oddly shaped, and I sweat dropped at that. Although, it did have a plus: it actually made me look like I had something on my chest. Yes, it was true, I didn't have anything... NOTHING! I couldn't even find a regular bra for them so I was forced to wear camisoles or sports bras. Meanwhile, Oichi was busy buying her A-cups, and Keiko didn't seem to have any trouble buying her B-cups.

I have been mistaken for a boy so many times that I decided to wear skirts and dresses whenever I went out. Specifically, so I wouldn't have to worry about being confused for a small, elementary-aged male.

I let out a sigh, trying to fight down the embarrassed blush that was taking over my face.

As I did, the entire corridor started to shake. The sound of a roar followed shortly behind it, causing the shaking to intensify. The stones that held together the corridor started to fall from the cieling. Others were crumbling as they flew out of the structure of the building. I looked down to find the floor cracking.

Taking few steps back, I managed to stutter out, "W-what is-"

The roar died down as did the shaking. Then, the corridor was calm again.

We were all frozen to where we were standing. Our next opponent was most likely not going to be something to make fun of. Especially if his bite is worse than his bark.

My heart was racing in my chest. I had never seen anything like this. It was incredible. Even if they were our enemies, the Saint Beasts were quite powerful to say the least. Still, we were quite strong, as well.

And by "we" I meant Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei because there was no way I would be volunteering to fight. Unless, of course, I decided that maybe I wanted to contribute something to this operation. I was more of a freeloader, anyway, though.

"I don't know what sort of creature makes that sound, but I have a hunch it is our next opponent," Kuwabara said.

He put on a determined face as if two seconds ago he wasn't in the least scared. Maybe, he really did want to fight this Beast. I couldn't even begin to fathom why.

Another roar came, and the entire corridor shook with the same magnitude as before.

"That is Byakko," Kurama stated.

Then another loud roar came along.

"And he doesn't sound very pleased."

'No, really, I wouldn't have noticed,' I thought.

All around, the corridor started to crumble apart even more than it had already done. Cracks that were created before were joining to form larger ones. The corridor itself was swaying slightly. An echo of tumbling stones came from behind us. The corridor was collapsing.

"Let's go," Yusuke shouted above the noise.

We all took off.

I was stuck in my spot no longer. My legs carried me as swift as they would allow me to go. I swung my arms so that I could even faster still. It must have been from the flight or fight mechanism inside of my body. All that I knew was that I was trucking.

The sound of falling bricks was filling my ear from a distance too close for my comfort. This made me try to push myself to run even faster.

Kuwabara glanced back. "This is dangerous!"

"No," I panted in a sarcastic manner. "This is the safest thing possible. No place safer!"

"Enough of your insolent comments, weasel woman," Hiei hissed from in front of me.

I felt the vein in my head show itself. "I'll show you 'weasel woman', you f****** monster panda!"

I extended my arm out so that I could grab on to his neck. Once it was in my grasp, I squeezed it as hard as I could. Hiei responded by scrunching his head closer to his neck.

"What the h*** are you doing, you annoying cow?!"

"Taste the icing from my cake of fury!"

I would have liked to have done more to Hiei, but, much to my dismay, we hit a flight of stairs. So because Hiei was in front of me, the sudden lift of elevation made me lose my grip on his neck. As soon as his neck wasn't in my grasp anymore, he sent me the most hateful glare I have ever been given. My response was quick and simple. I showed him the same finger Yusuke showed Kuwabara.

Up and up we went. The stairs spiraled around what I could have guessed was a tower. They were going up so high that I was a little nervous about what I would be looking at once I got out of the stairs. I had no phobia of heights. They just made slightly jittery once I was above four stories.

With another curve turn, there was the door to the outside. We gave our last push as we headed for it. I couldn't see past the door because of the light that was streaming through.

The closer to the light we got, the harder my heart beat until we burst through it.

We were no longer inside the castle itself I realized.

A bolt of lightning struck in the distance, not too far away. It lit up everything close to it with an electric blue color.

There we were, on some bridge that connected two towers together, out in the open. On the other side of the wide bridge was Byakko, our next opponent.

He was a giant white tiger. I had expected some sort of creature like Genbu, not this enormous tiger demon.

"Tiger," Hiei whispered.

Byakko was most definitely nothing to make fun of. His claws were sharp and were as long as my leg. His eyes were red, only holding the emotion of wrath and blood lust inside of them. His fang were like the ends of naginatas, tall and able to tear through anything as a regular tiger would. It was his body that scared me the most.

He stood as though he were a human. His muscles were toned. The fur he had looked as though they were being stretched by how large his muscles were. He wasn't exactly small either. He must have stood at least fifteen feet off of the ground.

Byakko picked up his tail, no more than a third the size of his body, and smashed it against the ground, leaving quite a large hole where it hit.

I snuck a peek at Kuwabara. He was the one who wanted to fight against the next opponent after all.

He was not looking so good. There was sweat running all over his face. His eyes were so wide with fear, and all he could focus on was Byakko.

'Kuwabara...'

"Intruders will pay for coming this far into my territory," Byakko stated, eyeing us with rage.

He let out another one of his roars.

Kuwabar gulped. "It's huge!"

"It's a pity they don't have him in a zoo," Yusuke said.

I looked up at Kuwabara. Something in my heart started to hurt really bad. Byakko was huge and powerful, compared to him Kuwabara...

'No,' I told myself. 'I musn't have thoughts like that.'

Yet, I didn't want Kuwabara to fight this demon. The thought of Kuwabara being hurt flickered in my mind, and the pain in my chest became greater. I couldn't let Kuwabara go out there. I didn't want him getting injured or worse. If Kuwabara died, I didn't know...

I gripped the piece of my shirt that was over my heart tight. Biting my lip, I made one of the dumbest choices to others in my entire life. To me, I felt as thought it would be a great choice.

I heard Hiei.

"I'll go," he said.

Kuwabara wouldn't have it. "Back off! Didn't I say I would take the next one?"

He started to take a step. My body moved on its own. I pushed Kuwabara back with my arm.

"Erine, what are you-"

I didn't give him a chance to answer as I jogged over the bridged. Byakko let out a ferocious roar, and I hesitated a bit.

"Do not think that you are dominant because you tore up Genbu," he warned. "He was weak! He could talk to the demons in the city by prowling through the castle wall. That is why we didn't kill him ourselves. But I am a real beast; I have been caged in this place for too long without prey, without bones, without blood! Until now..."

His entire expression changed. He showcased his teeth to all of us, widening his eyes even more to make himself look more menacing.

"Humans, I will rip you apart and eat you myself!"

"Gee, how nice," Yusuke commented.

He was not the guy to be smart mouthing.

"Hiei, Kurama," Byakko called out. They both stiffened. "I will feed you to the fugaki!"

He roared with so much volume it shook the bridged as well. The noise vibrated in my ears, hurting my skull. I gripped onto it.

"Oh, yeah, well, I don't think you're that tough," I yelled at him.

Pieces of the old bridged fell off. A piece underneath my right foot cracked. Upon noticing it, I stepped away from it just in time for it to fall to the ground. Then it all stopped when Byakko's roar faded away.

"Apparently this guy likes breaking things with the sound of his own voice," Yusuke said.

"It's a long way down," Byakko said. "I'll send you all down there myself, unless one of you will come to fight me, but your're weak bodies will be broken either way!"

"Then here I am to fight you," I said.

I heard Kuwabara yell from behind me.

"Erine, I said I would take him," he shouted at me.

I turned to face him. "Sorry, but this fight is mine. I can't let you take this one. Maybe the next one, Kuwabara."

"Don't be stupid, Erine," Yusuke yelled. "You won't be able to take him by yourself. Let someone else take him!"

I flashed small smile.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," I said. Albeit, it came out quite somber even with the smirk on my face.

I knew I was probably no match for Byakko, but if it could spare Kuwabara then I was content with that. My only objective at this point was to offer something to this mission. It wasn't mine to begin with, but I still didn't want to feel worthless. I allowed Kurama to get hurt. So there was no way I was going to let Kuwabara get hurt either.

I turned to face Byakko, and walked out onto whatever was remaining of the wide part of the bridge. Sizing him up I came up with the perfect strategy to beat him: don't get hit.

He sneered at me. "You think you can overpower me with just one human? A girl no less!"

I balled up my fist at him. "Come down here yourself and I'll show you I can beat you!"

...not.

He started to laugh heartily as though this were some kind of joke. My blood boiled at the fact that he was regarding me as though I were nothing.

"I can't keep a straight face if you make me laugh," he said while cackling.

"Shut it, grow a pear, and let's go," I shouted in wrath at him. "Unless of course you are incapable of doing something so simple!"

He stopped laughing before growling at me. "I could beat you with the hair on my mane, foolish woman."

"Then prove it, kittypie!"

Byakko plucked a few hairs from his murky green mane. He held them to his mouth and blew on them. They flew from his clawed hand, flying high in front of me. Whilring together, they glowed a small light. Then, they began to transform.

My eyes widened at what they had been altered into.

The four hairs Byakko had plucked from his head turned into four monsters. They were the color of his hair, but were not the size of them. From guessing, I would have said they were at least the size of male hippo. Their eyes were like a spider's with how vacant they were and the ultimate lack of an iris. They had the same sharp teeth and claws as Byakko had.

They descended down to the stone bridge, growling at me. Slobber was dripping down from their mouths and onto the stone.

"So you weren't kidding about the hairs, I see," I mumbled.

I took a step back, ready to run. Stopping myself, I reminded myself the reason I was doing this. I was protecting Kuwabara, no matter the cost. If I could somehow injure Byakko just a little then Kuwabara and the others would be safe for now. We had a ways to go before we reached the end, and that meant that each of them was super important.

"These creatures are like myself," Byakko explained. "They are hungry like me and you are the perfect meat. They don't like sharing either, so you might be in the middle of a tug of war."

"Erine, just come back," Yusuke shouted. "Swap! You can't fight them!"

"I know that," I yelled, craning my head so that I could look at him. "I know that, but right now I need to give me your faith!"

Turning my attention back to the creatures, I mumbled. "Would be nice if I had a weapon, though."

"Weasel woman!"

I glanced behind me just in time to notice a sheated sword flying through the air. Feeling relieved, I snatched it. It wasn't that heavy. Unsheathing the sword, I noticed it was sharp and taken good care of. This would have to do.

"Don't make me regret giving you this," Hiei stated, pointing a finger at me. "It has seen a lot of blood, but never the owner's, understand?"

I nodded, smiling. "Gotcha."

I held up the blade toward the creatures.

"Alright, let's see what you've got," I shouted at them.

They snapped their jaws at me, growling with hunger. This was the game of prey and predator.

And there was no way that I was going to be the prey, not this time.

"Come on!"

My cry called them into action. To my right, one of them charged at me. It raised it claw at me to swipe me. Barely missing the attack, I dodged to one side, only to have another one waiting at me. I did a sideways roll to avoid that creature's talons that slammed into the ground. Stumbling to my feet, I was greeted with two of them coming at me at the same time.

They jumped toward me with their claws stretched out. I couldn't dogde quick enough I soon realized. There was something I could do though.

I raised Hiei's sword above my head, picking the one on the right to swing at. Since they were in the air, they wouldn't be able to dodge. If I could kill at least one of them then...

Screaming, I slashed the sword into the creature's head. The blade had only made it a few centimeters deep in its head before the other one's claw found my back. The attack itself was fast, but it had a lot of power that I was knocked to the ground. Air assaulted my newly opened wounds, making them sting so painfully. I felt the wounds pulsing.

I cried out as I landed against the stone. Streams of hot liquid were snaking their way from my back to my sides before forming small pools of blood. I didn't want to move. It hurt too much to move.

'You have to get up,' I shrieked at myself. 'Get up! Get up!'

Heaving myself up, I turned around to see all of the creatures lunging at me at once from above. I rolled to the side just as their claws put a huge dent in the stone. Stumbling to my feet, I watched them whip around to face me. They let out an ear deafening screech. Snapping their jaws some more, one of them charged at me.

With the wound on my back filled with dirt and small pieces of stone, I gritted my teeth to relieve the throbbing pain.

The creature had rivers of blood running down his head. He was back for revenge.

"So you can actually feel, huh?" I taunted through my closed teeth.

I dodged his attack as swiftly as I could. It was such a shame I didn't notice the other two creatures waiting for me as a landed back on my feet.

They slashed at me simultaneously.

It was almost fascinating how everything was turning out really. The blood that was leaving my body didn't cause me to panic like I thought it would. If anything, this was probably the most calm I had ever been. The sting that came with the dirty claw wounds numbed to the point where it felt as though it was small warmth. There wasn't the fire like many had described the pain to be.

I didn't feel helpless. Fear wasn't inside of my head as another creature ripped their claws over my exposed arm. It was unexplainable, this sense of being at peace. Though, I knew I was far from resting in peace. I couldn't understand what I was feeling at that moment.

For some reason, I just wanted to sleep; to close my eyes and drift away. I could sink for an eternity if that was something I could wish for. My eyelids were beginning to become heavy. All around my body, I was tired. It was from the blood loss probably.

"Yeah, blood loss…"

"Erine! Don't give up! You can't stop fighting!"

'I hear you, Yusuke.'

I hit the ground with a hollow thump. It didn't hurt too badly, but it made me want to sleep even more now. The stone ground was nice and cool, perfect to just close my eyes. With that in mind, I started to close my eyes. I did it just in time to see one of the creatures charging for me.

'Probably wants to eat me or something…'

I could hear the creature's roar inside of my ear. It was right next to me, but it wasn't going to be there for long.

It happened quite swiftly that I wasn't sure what was going on. One moment, I was on the floor, wishing for myself to go to sleep. In the next moment, I was up on my feet. The blood of the creature splattered across the stone as its head fell and rolled along the stones also. Hiei's sword was stained with crimson in the middle of the blade.

Some of the blood had gotten on to my skirt and leg warmers. I felt some of it become stuck on my face and hair.

Then there was this sensation that soon followed after it. My heart was pounding. It thumped so quickly in my chest I thought it was going to explode right out of my body. Even my face felt hot and my entire body for that matter. Thoughts in my head were spinning around in a confused whirlwind.

I tried to take a breath, but it came out in a small gasps.

So caught up in the rushing feeling, I didn't notice the rest of the creatures lunging at me. It was all just a repeat, and I found myself knocked off my feet again. I slide across the stone this time, leaving long lines of my blood at least a few feet long. The breath was knocked clear out of me. The pain was still being numbed out.

All of the creatures gave an ear-splitting screech before charging at me.

I couldn't get out of the way this time. The thought of me dying crossed my mind, but it didn't seem to faze me at all. I wanted to close my eyes. Sleep sounded quite nice.

It wasn't my body that was calling me to rest, though. Some outside force was demanding that I do it. Whatever it was, it was making me incredibly lethargic.

"Don't touch her!"

I glanced up through my miniature line of vision to see Kuwabara standing directly in front of me. He had his spirit sword out, pointed toward the oncoming creatures. I saw some beads of sweat rolling down his face and all I could muster up to say was nothing endearing like I had hoped to say.

"Kuwabara, no…"

He turned his head to me. His mouth had a small smirk.

'Oh, that fool,' I thought. 'Don't act tough to save me. It is I who is supposed to save you.'

"Don't you worry, Erine, I'll take it from here," he said. His tone was gentle, as if he were whispering to a winged butterfly in his palm. "You take your nap. By the time you wake up, I'll be a winner. Trust me on that, at least."

My eyes shut themselves as I felt a cool drop slide down my cheek.

As I was pulled in sleep, I was taken to another world.

(put in "viddler" a period and then a "com" front of it please, or else you won't be able to go to the song) /v/ba7451e3

Sorry for the long update, guyz, but I didn't have a lot of time on my hand. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	4. Into The Lair of Byakko

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, any of the characters in the series, or any of the original dialogue used in the episode. Those are property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Funimation.

I DO own Erine, any future OCs, and the AU plot of the story. Please read and enjoy.

Chapter 4: Into the Lair of Byakko

I suspected that my reoccurring dreams were caused by the amount of stress that was placed on me constantly. My daily routine was busy and had me buzzing around the city. I had to wake up, get ready, make myself breakfast and lunch, and head over to school. I wouldn't even begin to explain my day once I was at school, too much annoyance to actually do it. I couldn't mention what it was like with the people I had to deal with in school: the teachers, the principal, the stuck-up girls, etc.

For four days out of the week I worked a six hour shift at a café, which started not even an hour after I was out of school. As much as I absolutely _adore _having to wear that uniform, I didn't volunteer to get the job. My lovely principal got it for me. He did that to "keep me out of trouble", as he put it. All he cared about was reputation for his school.

Then I had to rush home to make dinner. On the weekends, I cleaned the entire house. So, regularly my schedule was pretty tight. And the teachers wondered why I never had my homework done. Whatever, I didn't really care that much.

I told myself that was why I was such a delinquent. It was because my life was so stressed that kicking back and causing trouble was a pleasant way to relieve it. I wasn't the problem, it was everything else. There was nothing wrong with me. It was the world that was wrong.

I was an idiot. It was all me. I became a delinquent to run away. Being a coward was easier than facing the problems head-on. I thought maybe if I ignored them they would eventually go away.

I was an idiot.

The one thing I had waited foolishly for was my mother. I had no clue as to why had spent a lot of my time in the solitude of our apartment wanting her to show me some manner of affection. She would head for her room whenever she returned home. The door was shut immediately following her arrival. I never tried to go inside.

My mother's job had her traveling around, not coming home for weeks on end. It brought in money that we could have used, though, so I didn't really complain about it. Not only that, but I had the apartment to myself, and that wasn't an opportunity I was so willing to give up. There was no one there to properly chastise me for anything I did wrong. I came and went and did whatever I pleased.

At first, I basked in the feeling of not having anyone nag at me. Later on, however, when I realized that I wasn't even there to my mother, I began to hate feeling alone.

She would barely glance at me as she made her way into her room. In fact, I had believed she had programmed herself into thinking that she had no other precious person in her life other than my father and brother. I told myself so many times that she would never hold me like I would see other mothers do. She would never apologize for leaving me by myself, on my own, in this dangerous and lonely world. She would never recognize me as her child.

It was a fact that I had come to accept and reject simultaneously. Somewhere deep inside I hoped that there would be a time when she would take my hand. She wouldn't even have to say anything. All she needed to do was to acknowledge me. In my head, I begged and pleaded for that small action.

I just wanted somebody – anybody – to see the pain that I had in my chest. It was impossible to completely get rid of that ache there. I wished that, somehow, I wouldn't have to say that I was hurting for people to understand what I was feeling. All I needed was a hand, a shoulder, an arm. If it was simply that, I could cry forever and tell that person what was throbbing in my heart in the loneliness of me.

I half-way opened my eyelids.

"Something's wrong."

"Yes."

"What does he mean?!"

"Try looking closely at the two fighters."

I was confused. Last I remembered, I was battling against Byakko's hair creatures. "Battling" was a weak term. It was more like getting torn to shreds by their claws. Honestly, I had thought I was dead for sure.

'How am I alive?'

Then I recalled Kuwabara coming to my aid.

In a split second, I raised my upper body. I was no longer across the bridged with Kuwabara, but with everyone else.

'Kuwabara!'

I winced at the small pain. My body was a little stiff. The fiery sensation was no longer there, inside of my wounds. There wasn't the numbness that I felt before either. It seemed my injuries had taken good care of themselves.

None of that mattered. As I looked at Kuwabara, with his spirit sword out, who appeared puny in comparison to his opponent, Byakko, my injuries were miniscule problems. He was littered with various claw wounds that were fresh. His blue uniform had been cut and ripped; though, I knew mine looked no better. Any visible part of his skin had sweat glossing over it.

His body was shaking slightly. Next to his opponent, he was exhausted.

"Judging from the attacks, Kuwabara obviously has the upper hand," Hiei said. I focused in on the conversation. "But by the looks of them, it's as though Kuwabara is taking all the blows."

I tightened my fist. To my surprise, it was not flesh that I felt. As I gazed down at my hand I realized that Hiei's sword was there. On the blade was dried out, dark blood.

'Oh, yeah, I did slice one of them. At least I helped somewhat…'

I put my attention back on the fight. That was when I noticed the energy around Byakko. It wasn't there moments before.

"Could it be," Hiei mumbled.

As we all looked on, Byakko's body began to grow larger.

"Byakko's growing in size," Kurama stated.

Byakko must have stood a foot more off the ground. I gulped. The saliva got stuck in my throat, and I swallowed hard to keep myself from choking.

"Now I see," Kurama said. "Look down at Kuwabara's spirit sword."

Glancing at it, we saw how it had shrunk quite a bit. If that was happening then Byakko must…

No, there was no way for something like that to happen. Unless what I was suspecting was true.

Kuwabara stared shockingly. "What the-"

"It's getting smaller," Yusuke said.

"Exactly," Kurama said. "Proportional to Byakko's increase. He's stealing Kuwabara's energy."

Byakko cackled at Kuwabara's expression. "Did you really think you could cut me? I've been feeding off your energy!"

Something inside of my chest willed me to get on my feet. I wobbled a little and my knees fidgeted. I managed despite this and joined the others. Albeit, I was limping, but that didn't stop me.

"Wakey, wakey, sunshine," Yusuke greeted jokingly.

Hiei **had **to comment, as well. "Well, if it isn't the little weasel warrior? A nice duel."

I ignored them both and pushed through them.

"Wha-"

Yusuke started, but I cupped my hands on both sides of my mouth.

"C'mon, Kuwabara," I yelled. My voice box vibrated in an unpleasant manner. However, I suppressed the pain that was beginning to appear in my throat. "Don't give up!"

He turned to look at me. His eyes were wide.

"I believe in you, Kuwabara! And you want to know why?!"

He looked at me expectantly.

"Because it's you, Kuwabara! You can do it!"

I breathed deeply in uneven amounts to get all the air I had lost when I yelled. In my heart, however, I felt complete. All the air I had gotten rid of was exchanged for something warm in the inner parts of my heart. Kuwabara could win his battle. I believed in that one pure thing above everything else.

He smirked, before turning back to Byakko.

"Don't think a few inspirational ramblings will save you now," Byakko growled, showcasing his sharp teeth at Kuwabara. "I will still be feeding off all of your slashes."

Kuwabara wasn't willing to accept that,though. He poured more energy into his hand to make up for the energy that was taken by Byakko. In response to this, his spirit sword returned to its original length. He was so fatigued from all the energy that Byakko had stolen, however. It was difficult to even stand at his current condition.

Kuwabara lifted himself to his feet, shaking as he stood up. He pointed his sword at Byakko. I watched as his back fell up and down quickly. My hand unconsciously covered my mouth.

"Kuwabara, are you crazy? Hit him again, and he'll just get bigger!" Yusuke yelled at him.

He didn't listen, though.

"Don't be stupid!"

"Leave me alone, Urameshi! Nothing's going to make me stop fighting now!" Kuwabara shouted as he sprinted toward Byakko.

"So, this is your plan, to feed me?" Byakko asked. He was amused at Kuwabara's plan.

"That's right," he said.

Byakko rushed toward Kuwabara. Since Byakko was close enough, Kuwabara stuck the spirit sword in Byakko's mouth.

"I really hope that is a part of his plan," I said.

"Alright," Yusuke mumbled next to me.

Kurama didn't share in our feelings. A frown appeared on his features as he eyed Kuwabara and Byakko. "This may not be good."

While in theory the strike should have killed Byakko, all that happened was that Byakko kept swallowing the energy from Kuwabara's spirit sword. Kuwabara's spirit energy was flowing out from his hands and arms into Byakko's mouth. Kuwabara tensed from the pain.

"Just let go," Yusuke mumbled.

In less than a second, Kuwabara's spirit sword evaporated into thin air. He wobbled on his feet, trying to keep his balance. Not having any energy left to sustain himself, he fell to the stone beneath him.

Byakko's stomach had expanded immensely thanks to the energy Kuwabara had given him through the spirit sword.

Byakko cackled. "Thanks."

Kuwabara attempted to lift himself off the ground, but his arms were shaking so much that it was difficult to get a solid push. All the while, Byakko rubbed his massive abdomen.

"You have more spirit energy on your bones that I thought," Byakko said. "Eating all of it nearly got me full."

Kuwabara managed to get to his knees, still shaking. He placed on foot on the ground and help up his right hand.

'No, Kuwabara, don't.'

He formed his spirit sword again. Only this time it was much smaller than before. It was likely no bigger than a butter knife.

"Oh, man, this looks bad. Looks like his spirit sword's had a down size," Yusuke said.

"Oh, Kuwabara," I whispered.

Kuwabara stared up at Byakko; his eyes were still lit with the fire to keep going in this battle.

"I dare you to come closer."

Byakko scoffed. "You can't even stand up anymore. You're nothing but a wounded animal."

He lifted up his muscled, humungous legs above Kuwabara. Even his feet made Kuwabara appear as though he were small.

The anxiety rushed through everyone that was watching. I knew my heart was pounding loud enough for me to hear it above the sound of Kuwabara getting kicked by Byakko. I whimpered and covered my eyes so that I couldn't see Kuwabara fall to the ground from that kick. There was a definite 'thud' that followed the hit. My heart rate doubled, feeling as though my heart would explode right out of my chest.

There was the vibration of loud footsteps before I heard Byakko's voice ring in my ears. "Crushing you will be the perfect exercise after my giant meal."

I couldn't watch. It wasn't a matter that I couldn't physically do it, but more that mentally I wasn't able to. The last thing I wanted to remember of Kuwabara was of not him getting destroyed by this monster. Scolding myself for thinking like that, I tried to manage all of the thoughts scattered across my mind.

"As soon as I have enough room in my stomach that's where you'll go!"

"I'm not so sure I can crack jokes about this," Yusuke said. "Kuwabara's really going to get killed now."

'Killed…'

The thought echoed in my brain.

'Killed…'

"No, there is a way."

That was Kurama. And at the first sign of hope in this situation, I removed my hands from my face, slowly and carefully. I looked up at Kurama. I was sure I appeared desperate, perhaps pathetic.

"What is it?" I asked.

Yusuke raised his voice. "Well, then say it!"

Kurama's eyes were on Byakko, calculating the details before giving them to us. "Byakko's body stopped expanding halfway through that attack. That indicates vulnerability."

My heart lifted at that. "So, there's a weak point on that guy?"

"Don't get the girl's hopes up, Kurama," Hiei said from behind me. He was harsh, but, at the same time, he thought realistically. While under different circumstances I might have been annoyed at him, I couldn't help but admire that sense of facing the facts. Hiei understood that there was a difference between possibilities and cold, hard evidence.

"I am simply saying there is a chance," Kurama stated.

"Yes, Kurama, maybe if you were the one fighting, but that fool will never see it," Hiei countered.

My head spun so fast as I turned to yell at Hiei. "He's not a fool!"

Hiei glared at me. His red eyes seemed to intensify his glare, and all of my words fell back into my throat. I admitted to myself that Hiei was intimidating.

"He's not.."

Byakko reached down to grasp Kuwabara by his collar. He lifted him off the ground with ease.

"You once said you wanted to die," Byakko stated. He reared back his fist. My hands clasped around Hiei's katana so tightly that I felt that handle of the sword beginning to leave an imprint on my palms. I winced as Byakko's fist slammed into Kuwabara's face. My grip on the katana increased to the point it was stinging.

Kuwabara was flung several feet away.

He pushed himself into a sit-up position. His breathing was still ragged.

Byakko stomped over to him. "You told your puny human friend that you'd never stop fighting unless I came down here and killed you myself, remember?"

Kuwabara stiffened as Byakko drew closer to him.

"In the end, you'll get exactly what you asked for remember that when I claw you into shreds!"

"No, it turns out I got something else on my mind," Kuwabara said.

He summoned more energy into his hand to form his – most likely – final spirit sword he could make. His spirit energy was all but used up.

"Don't be worried," Byakko taunted as he lifted up his large claws to strike Kuwabara. "I'm quick to the kill."

As Byakko brought down his claws, I was tempted to shut my eyes. However, I felt as though I was somehow betraying Kuwabara by doing that. He was a man with an honor code, and to shut my eyes to him felt as though I were disrespecting his legacy and honor as a warrior.

Some spark inside of me held on to the fact that Kuwabara was going to win this. I didn't understand it because, logically, any person would have bet that Kuwabara would come out the loser, or, in a worst case scenario, dead.

But Kuwabara was not the kind of person to back down from a challenge. He was the guy that would always mean what he said and did what he meant. There was no giving up or turning around for him. That was what made me worry about him the most.

And as Kuwabara's spirit sword blocked Byakko's oncoming claw, I knew that Kuwabara would be victorious in this fight.

He pushed Byakko's hand off of his spirit sword and strafed to the right of him. Byakko was momentarily thrown off balance, but that gave enough time for Kuwabara to charge up his spirit sword. He rushed forward and impaled Byakko right in the center of his enlarged stomach.

"Wait, Kuwabara, don't be stupid," Yusuke yelled. "Kurama says there is still a way to beat him."

"I hope he has a plan," I said as Kuwabara's spirit sword disappeared.

He started at the place where his sword should have been. He tilted his head to look up at Byakko, but there was a change in his eyes. They weren't sharp. They had dulled out, in a sense. His pupils were not focused as a normal person's, but they were distant-looking.

With that, he fell to the ground.

"Kuwabara…" Yusuke mumbled.

'C'mon, Kuwabara,' I thought.

Byakko placed a hand on his stomach. "You filled me up with your energy; I don't think I have enough room to eat your body. Oh well, I'll just crush you into pulp for later."

He lifted up his leg, hovering his foot directly above Kuwabara's body.

Yusuke lifted up his hand in a gun sign.

I took a step forward with both hands on the katana.

However, before we could do anything, Kurama stopped us. "No, stop! It's not necessary."

We turned our attention back to the fight just in time to see Byakko stumble back a bit. His body was expanding and retracting at an unnatural rate. It was if he no longer had any room to store any of the energy he had consumed from Kuwabara's attacks.

Kuwabara I applauded and gave a thumbs up. He lifted himself slightly off the ground. As he looked up Byakko's state, he chuckled a bit.

"Looks like it worked," he said.

"What worked?" Byakko questioned. His body kept changing rapidly.

Kuwabara sat up on his knees. "It's like my sister always says: 'It's not good to eat too much food in one sitting.'"

"Thank heaven for Shizuru," I said. "Not only can she cut hair nicely, but she is an excellent moralist."

"Sister, huh? That explains a lot," Yusuke stated.

Byakko stepped toward Kuwabara, but Kuwabara was not threatened. "Why you…"

His body began to glow brightly. The energy inside of him was colliding, producing black shocks around him. On his stomach, small bumps were appearing from the energy that was trying to escape before..

BAM!

All of the energy within Byakko exploded, scattering around. The energy destroyed the bridged beneath him. I watched him fall to his demise with a rather satisfied smile.

"Holy…" I said.

"Down he goes," Yusuke joked.

"The amount of spirit energy Kuwabara transferred was more than Byakko's body could contain," Kurama explained to us.

"Sound like an awful case of gas, if you ask me," Yusuke chuckled at his own joke.

I shook my head at him.

"Quiet, Urameshi!"

We looked to Kuwabara. He was wafting the air around him for some reason that I had no idea about.

"I'm trying to concentrate here, okay? I have to breathe in the guy's fumes; it's filled with my spirit energy."

"Actually, your energy returned automatically," Kurama stated as we made our way over to him. Well, all of them walked while I limped. My right knee wasn't feeling too good to put pressure on.

"Oh, well, you can never be too safe, right?"

"Hey, I don't understand why your still on the ground Kuwabara, I haven't even broken a sweat," Yusuke said.

"Very funny, Urameshi. You're taking the next one."

He started getting on to his feet. I could tell how tired he was so I rushed over to him. Placing Hiei's katana on the ground, I ripped off the other sleeve from my uniform. He was injured all over, but, at the very least, I could cover some wounds. Though, I wasn't exactly sure how well I could bandage a wound; from the one I put on Kurama, my guess was not that well.

"Here, let me see your arm," I said, holding out my hand so he could place one of them there.

"No, Erine, it's fine," Kuwabara reassured. He gave a warm smile.

My eyes started to sting.

"Don't give me that crap," I growled. I yanked his left arm up and started wrapping it. My grip was tight on his hurt skin. He winced.

I immediately loosened my grip, mumbling an apology.

"Jeez, I swear," I said, upset at how he could be so against being tended to. Not only that, but he had gotten himself hurt. He could have died, that idiot. "It's like I can't even look away for more than five minutes without something going on with you. If it's saving Eikitchi to almost getting killed by a giant tiger demon. Really? I mean, I stay out of trouble more than you do, and I practically go looking for it. Aren't you even at least a bit worried that you might have died? You could have been killed and your acting like it's nothing. It's not nothing!

"If you had died what would your sister do? What about Yusuke, too? Who's going to take care of Eikitchi? What about your dream of being a scientist? We wouldn't be able to see you graduate and then-"

"Erine."

I hadn't noticed I was rambling on until Kuwabara said my name. Glancing up at him, I felt really guilty for getting mad at him. He didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to get us through this. Chastising him was simply something that could not be justified.

"Sorry," I apologized, finding myself having trouble with wrapping his arm up. I chuckled. "I get carried away easily, don't I?"

"Erine-"

There was a ringing sound that interrupted Kuwabara from speaking. It was coming from my chest.

Yusuke reached his hand toward my chest. My face turned incredibly red, knowing where his hand was going to accidentally touch. Instinctively, I slapped his hand away.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, annoyed.

"You're the one that decided to stuff that in your shirt to make it seem that you had any amount of chest," Yusuke retorted.

I reddened even more at that. "I did not."

He tried to reach for it again.

"Stop!"

I hurriedly took out the communication mirror before Yusuke could try anything again. Flipping it open, Yusuke came closer so that he could glance over my shoulder.

Botan's face popped up on to the circular screen. "Erine? Yusuke? This is Botan. Do you copy?"

"Loud and clear," I answered.

Yusuke simply said, "Sure."

Kuwabara instantly sat up. His eyes were wide with excitement. "Hey, tell her I say hi."

'Fickler than a woman,' I thought. 'Who do you like anyway? Me or Botan?'

"How are things in Maze Castle?" She asked.

I thought things were progressing very smoothly. Considering what we had accomplished in the last couple of hours I had to say we were on roll at this point. Well, the boys were on a roll.

"Please tell me you beat three out of the four Saint Beasts by now."

"What?" Yusuke and I said together. Yusuke went on while I just gawked at Botan. "Are you crazy, Botan? We've barely beaten two; these guys aren't easy."

"I understand Yusuke, but that's not fast enough. The city is losing its grip. The mayor declared a riot alert thinking these people are just insane."

Kuwabara jumped to his feet in an ecstatic manner. He giggled a bit before quickly leaning over Yusuke, who was leaning over me, to see Botan. I smiled a little. If he liked someone else that was fine.

"So far, the police have detained most of those taken over by the Makai, but it won't be long before the police turn into them, as well."

"Okay, I get it," Yusuke said, albeit rather sarcastically.

I elbowed him in the right rib. He flinched slightly before pinching my side. I slapped his hand away, growling. What I got in return for that was a nice display of his middle finger. I gave up on countering that as I focused back on Botan.

"I hope you get it, Yusuke," she said. "I really do."

She looked away from the mirror. We leaned closer to the mirror just as the connection was lost.

"What? She closed it on us," Yusuke said. He looked offended.

"Hey," I whined as he snatched the mirror from me. "I was holding that!"

"Way to state the obvious, shortie!"

A dangerous look flashed across my face. I couldn't believe he had called me that. I felt my eye twitch with annoyance. And I was more than positive there was some manner of burning hatred that was being reflected in my normally dark brown eyes. Then, I heard a vein pop out in my head.

"What did you call me?"

He smirked, a smug look dawned his face. "You hear me, **runt**."

I jabbed a finger in his direction. My anger could no longer be contained within the private room of my mind. There were few things that got me this enraged about anything. One of them happened to include me being referred to anything below average height. As much as I knew it I wasn't willing to admit it to myself; I sometimes enjoyed rubbing my ego, tricking myself into believing my height was normal.

Well, at least, I wasn't as short as Hiei. Poor guy…

"That's it! I'm going to tear your face clean off! I swear, you-"

Yusuke clamped his hand over my mouth. His palms were really sweaty. The smelly sweat that was now on my face disgusted me so much that all my anger disappeared only to be replaced with shock.

"Shut up," Yusuke said. "Botan is back."

I saw her face pop back up on the circular screen.

"Sorry about that. As you can see, I am busy here, too."

Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke's hand that was holding the communication mirror. He yanked it away from Yusuke so that his face was all that could be seen. His face was gleeful at that sight of her. In a way, I thought he was adorable-looking with his brightened eyes that sparkled. Figuratively, I meant, or..

Did they sparkle for real? No, I was probably just being delusional.

"See you later, Botan," he said, gleefully I might add.

However, she had already hung up. And from the look on Kuwabara's face, he was pretty disappointed in that.

"She hung up," Yusuke stated. He pulled the communication mirror out of Kuwabara's hand. "Stupid. You can't be too injured if you're still flirting."

"Shut up," Kuwabara retorted.

I grabbed onto Yusuke's hand, yanking it away from my face. My hands rubbed away the spots on my face which were now glistening with Yusuke's sweat. I made extra sure that no sweat fell into my mouth. The very thought of that made me want to vomit. And if I had, it definitely would have been on Yusuke or Hiei (If he had only been a little bit closer).

"Well, shall we go?" Kurama asked.

I chuckled. "He said 'shall'. That's fancy."

Yusuke looked at me. "Erine, just shut up."

I opened my mouth to scream at him. But then, there was the vivid sound of a low, rumbling roar. It shook the entire castle from where it was coming from. Only one individual that I knew of could be able to do something like that.

"Don't tell me…"

"You said it, Yusuke…"

Kurama glanced around. He inhaled a sharp breathe. "He's alive."

Cracks started to form and multiply throughout the stone bridge. The shaking didn't help with that at all.

"Hurry, it's collapsing!"

Kurama was the first to take off, followed by Yusuke and Kuwabara. Hiei took a tiny step forward before leaping up in the air and onto a floating pillar attached to the rest of the castle.

Quickly, I grabbed for Hiei's katana. Just as I had grasped around the handle, I felt one of the cracks underneath my foot. I limped as swiftly as my legs could take me up a set of small stairs. With each step, the pain in my knee shot got worse. I was a too afraid of almost falling to really care.

As soon as made it to the top I leaned against the balcony of the pillar to keep my weight off of my leg. I felt it pulsing uncomfortably. It didn't cause me any excruciating pain, but the simple fact that I could barely move it made me nervous.

We watched the remnants of the bridge fall down to the green treetops of the forest below. A sense of relaxation passed over us. We hadn't been a part of the debris that plummeted to the ground. That was one less worry that was in our heads.

Byakko's laugh echoed through the entrance to the rest of the castle.

Turning to stare into the hall that we now had to take, we saw into the hallway that was barely lit.

"So, human, you've proven to be quite a worthy prey…"

His voice gave me shivers up my spine.

"Hey, aren't you dead yet?" Kuwabara asked into the darkness of the hall.

"Hah, very much alive. And you learn my strength after inviting you into my lair; my room of hell."

I looked up at Kurama, who was standing next to me. "I'm not really keen on going at it with this guy again."

Kurama nodded before addressing Byakko. "And what if we say no?"

The tiger demon's laughing voice followed soon after Kurama's question. "You don't want to say no."

'I actually really want to,' I thought.

I turned to Kuwabara and started to open my mouth to make a sarcastic remark about following Byakko.

"Just lead the way, Byakko. I'll go wherever you want," he said. There was a confident smirk on his face and a determined fire was in his eyes.

My mouth dropped as he said those words. Kuwabara had a way of blowing my mind with the things he did. I figured we could have just waltzed right by Byakko, leaving him in his "room of hell". That was the coward's way out, but, then again, I never said I wasn't a bit of a scaredy cat. Everyone there had more guts than any amount I had ever had before.

"What?" I shrieked, my voice echoing down the hallway. "Kuwabara, why would we do that?"

He cracked his knuckles. "Because I finish what I start, that's why!" He motioned his head toward the entrance to other part of the castle. "Let's go. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can save the world."

I took one step and a bothersome pain shot through my knee. Hissing, I lifted up my uniform to get a look at it. It was slightly red and swollen. I guessed I could probably be able to hold out through the rest of this mission. Though, if there were any more stairs to race up, I would have needed some kind of assistance to get up them.

"Are you alright?" Kurama asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. I can walk, at least."

"Hn."

I turned to Hiei. He was eyeing me as though I were some dead animal carcass that had been left out for far too long. That caused me to instantly be a little annoyed by him.

"You got a problem?" I snarled at him.

His eyes traveled to my hand. I looked and realized I still had his katana. Preferably, I did not want to be within three feet from this guy. I didn't want to get whatever made him such a sarcastic, cold jerk. But then I told myself that I had already touched something that belonged to him, so I was already infected.

Although, I could have had a little fun with this.

"Oh, you want this?" I said, teasingly. Holding up the katana, I smirked playfully at him.

His reaction: he was glaring daggers at me.

"Well, you're not getting it back," I told him, sticking out my tongue.

There was a rush of wind that made me stumble on my feet. My hand suddenly felt really empty. I held it up to check. The katana was no longer in my hand.

"Huh?"

I heard the sound of a sword being placed back into its sheathe.

"You shouldn't try to act on the same level as us," Hiei said. He placed his hands behind his back. "It makes you look uglier."

"You are so –"

"Okay! I think we had enough bonding time! Let's get going, right, Kuwabara?" Yusuke quickly intervened before anything got more heated.

"Yeah, let's head on in."

Hiei and I kept our glares on each other as we followed the others into the hallway.

A gust of warm air made the front strands of my bangs fly around.

Byakko's lair was warm, to say the least. The fire-like light that was shining at the end of the cave that must have led to the inner part of the lair had my stomach churning just a bit. I felt sweat beginning to form underneath my leg warmers and behind my ears, where my hair was the thickest.

"Oh, that's great. Now, we're walking into a preheated oven," Yusuke commented. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head.

"Who cares? As long as it leads to Byakko," Kuwabara said. There was perspiration forming on his forehead, as well.

I glanced over at Kurama. He was starting to sweat, too. My eyes made a quick check to Hiei. He was fine. There was no drops of liquid on his face.

'How...' My thought echoed out.

"Okay, you go first," Yusuke snapped at Kuwabara.

Kurama frowned. "Come on."

I shook my head, staring into the cave. "No, I'm fine just right here. Let me know when you guys are done."

"Oh, no, you don't," Yusuke said. He grabbed my left ear underneath all of my hair. Pinching it quite roughly, I whimpered a bit. He started to walk. The tug on my ear was enough to get me moving forward.

The closer we approached the entrance to Byakko's "room of hell", the more it started to feel as though we were descending into fire. Humidity soared at the highest I had ever felt it. Even though both of the sleeves from my uniform were gone I still felt a thin layer of sweat was sticking to my exposed skin. I felt guilty for thinking that my situation was worse. The guys, except Hiei, were close to filling a gallon jug with the amount of sweat they were producing.

The ledge that was on the other side of the entrance to the lair of Byakko was held up by the rock that formed the lair.

"Wow," I said as we walked to the edge. "That's quite a lair. Reminds me of where Yusuke and I were first created."

There was no floor to the lair. No, in fact, what could have been named as the "floor" was really a pool of bubbling, red-hued lava. That solved the problem of where all of the heat and humidity came from. Coming up from the lava were rock pillars that held together against the hot liquid. On top of these pillars were broken, uneven fragments of what must have been an old

"Give me a break," Yusuke said. His eyes widened as he gazed down into the lava. He chuckled nervously. "I guess 'room of hell' wasn't just a clever name."

Kuwabara, Yusuke, and I stared down at the lava.

"That's.." Yusuke said.

"..lava," Kuwabara finished.

"Yep," I added.

Kuwabara ripped off a piece of his shirt and tossed it into the lava. It didn't even touch it by the time it burst into flames.

I whistled. "Now, that is called burning up for something."

It wasn't funny. I knew.

"Wow," Yusuke mumbled.

Another bead of sweat went down the side of Kuwabara's face. "We better not fall into that, guys," he said.

"A fine view, isn't it?"

We refocused our attention upon the all too familiar tiger demon. He poised upon a pillar in the very center of the lair. His arms were crossed over his chest and a overconfident smirk was on his face. He was in tip-top condition, not a single scratch on him.

"This is my private chamber. I come here to… 'play'."

'Play'…..

I shook the thought out of my head. There was no way I was going to let my head get lost in the gutter at such a crucial moment. Taking small deep breaths, I practically beat those kind of thoughts from my brain.

"No way, he's back to normal," Kuwabara remarked. I had no doubt he would be surprised. Kuwabara had given Byakko such a beating I hadn't even expected Byakko to live through it. And even if he had there should have been some amount of damage to his body.

A vein popped out of Yusuke's head. "Monster, you piss me off!"

"As you have discovered this room is filled with lava that will melt anything it touches," Byakko explained, ignoring Yusuke entirely. "So, does anyone have the courage to come challenge me?"

I threw up my hands. "Sorry, guys, but I can't take on giant demons over a flaming pit of lava. It's against my mad-up religion. So…"

Carefully moving to not hurt my leg, I sat down on the ledge. I made sure to sit as far away from the edge as possible. "…I'll be holding down the fort while you all do your thing."

Again, there was really no chance of me winning this one. Or anything else that might come up unless it involved a regular punk on the street. I could take on regular humans just fine. Demons, however, were a different level of strength compared to humans. Plus, I wouldn't be able to maneuver with the way my knee was acting.

"Then I'll be the one to take you one, circus freak," Yusuke shouted. "You think you've got so much power?"

Kuwabara placed a hand on his shoulder. He grinned. "Leave him to me, Urameshi."

"Kuwabara…"

Byakko simply laughed at Kuwabara's choice to fight him again. "Let the sword man come. He and I have a very pressing score to settle."

Kuwabara raised a fist to him. "You got that one right Byakko!" He took a few steps toward the ledge. "And this time I'm beating you up in way the vet can't even fix!"

"There's no need to push yourself."

My head whipped over toward Hiei. I couldn't believe that Hiei had actually made a statement that made him sound as if he cared about Kuwabara.

"You have fought well enough," he said. "Now, let Yusuke take over the battle, so you can in heal in the small chance that we need you later."

I glared at him. 'This guy's just one walking paradoxical jack***, isn't he?'

"I'm sorry, Hiei, but I just don't think I can do that," Kuwabara stated. "See, I got this thing called a code and it says no matter how ugly a fight gets I always finish it, even if it means risking my life."

I admired Kuwabara for a lot of reasons: his caring nature, his love for his friends and family. But I admired his way of following his own code the best. He wasn't like me. He actually cared about what he was doing. He actually cared about it being either right or wrong.

Hiei scoffed. "A human with an honor code."

"You can't argue with the guy; he's like a mule," Yusuke stated.

"Yes, he's almost as stubborn as you," Kurama said.

"What? Have you all surrendered?" Byakko yelled from across his place.

Kuwabara took a step forward. "Shut up! I'm coming you impatient hairball!"

He jumped from the ledge and onto a pillar. As soon as his foot touched it it crumbled underneath him. He had nowhere to go.

Yusuke gasped, and Kurama and I leaned in close in anticipation.

Luckily, Kuwabara had managed to grab onto a part on top of the pillar that was still intact. I let out a relieved side. He hadn't fallen into the lava, which was a miracle in itself.

"Kuwabara," Yusuke shouted. "Hey, are you sure you don't want me to tag in?"

"Shut up, Urameshi! I am completely on top of this," he said. Kuwabara hoisted himself up on top of the pillar. He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance. "Yeah, I just go distracted because it's so freakin' hot in here." He started to unbutton the top of his school uniform.

I cupped my hands on both sides. "Woohoo! You got it, Kuwabara!"

Yusuke looked at me. "You really are a pervert."

"Huh?"

"Stop wolf-calling for him to take his shirt off. It's sort of weird."

I flushed immediately. "W-what? I h-hadn't e-e-even thought of it l-like that! G-get YOUR mind out of the gutter!" My attention turned back to Kuwabara as I forced down the blood that had rushed into my cheeks. "C'mon, Kuwabara, beat him good so that he won't come back!"

"You're so unabashed," Hiei commented.

I stared up at him. "… I have no idea what that word means."

Kuwabara's uniform top fell to the stone fragment. "Now, I'm ready to fight."

'Kuwabara has a – '

I turned away to keep myself from thinking anything about his muscular physique. We were friends. To bring myself to think anything beyond that for a split second could possibly jeopardize our friendship. Besides, I didn't want to look like a lecherous person if I kept my eyes glued on him.

Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword. "Come claw at me whenever you want, Byakko!"

'Good, something else to distract me.'

Byakko laughed heartily at Kuwabara. "Actually, I was thinking of using a different technique this time."

"That's fine with me," Kuwabara said.

Byakko held both his hands out to his sides. He balled them up, causing them to crack from how much strength he was using. His mouth opened wide as he tilted his head back slightly. I felt his energy being concentrated onto a single point on his face.

He leaned forward. His hands went to his throat, making him appear as if he were about to throw up. In his mouth, his demon energy was starting to gather and emit a bright glow.

"What is that?" Yusuke asked in disbelief.

"Something powerful," Kurama said.

"Very," Hiei said. It was the first time I had ever heard Hiei talk like that. He sounded as if he were surprised.

I really started to worry for Kuwabara. The amount of energy in that was being built was incredibly strong. I had faith in Kuwabara that he could beat Byakko, but it was the injuries he might sustain from it that worried me the most.

Byakko released all of that energy in a large sphere straight at Kuwabara. At that high of a speed, Kuwabara had to make a quick decision. He could face it head on or dodge.

"So it does exist," Hiei muttered.

As that sphere of energy came flying at Kuwabara, he held up his spirit sword much like a baseball player held his bat while at the plate.

"You'll have to do better than that," Kuwabara said. "With my trusty spirit sword, I can knock that baby out of the ball park and into your face."

The intensity of that sphere frightened me. There was a great possibility that Kuwabara's spirit sword couldn't withstand that blast from it. Yet, there was also the chance that it could work. However, judging from Hiei's reaction there was more to it than what we were seeing.

"No," Kurama yelled. "You mustn't touch it! Get away!"

Following Kurama's advice, Kuwabara jumped onto another pillar only a few split seconds before the sphere hit the pillar. The energy from the sphere engulfed it with a green aura. It dissolved completely.

My mouth hung open.

"Hey, my jacket…" Kuwabara whined.

"You like it? I call it my Tiger Scream. Everything it touches turns into a pile of ashes," Byakko explained.

I gulped down some saliva that was forming in my throat. The playing field had been changed severely since Byakko had pulled out that new ability. If he were to combine that with his surroundings it would be a powerful attack indeed.

'Hmph, maybe there is a reason for this sauna to be in here,' I thought.

"For years I have heard of fighter who could destroy molecular bonds with the vibration of his voice," Hiei said. "I'd never thought I'd meet him."

He lost me at "molecular bonds."

"So, he can't use his spirit sword on it?" Yusuke questioned.

"No, the sword would cause a chain reaction that would destroy his entire spirit," Hiei answered.

I was actually feeling really disappointed in myself. Hiei, a demon, knew about human physics. Yet, I, a student, could not even begin to understand what he was saying. Class never interested me as much as trying to pass notes with Yusuke when the teacher was trying to lecture us. In any case, all I was aware of is that whatever that chain reaction was capable was it was something that could honestly suck Kuwabara's soul out.

Kuwabara nervously glanced back at the pillar he was just at. "Oh, man…"

Byakko chuckled. "The only thing you can do now is run."

He sent a volley of consecutive Tiger Screams at Kuwabara. Kuwabara jumped from pillar to pillar as each one was destroyed. I held my breath each time he decided to leap to a different pillar. The time for him to react was slim. Maybe half a second.

After the volley of Tiger Screams was done, Kuwabara was given a chance to catch a breath. He chuckled at the fact that he avoided being killed. "Guess I'm too fast for you."

His cocky face was turned into a surprised one as another Tiger Scream came shooting at him. He quickly dodged it, landing on another pillar. Another storm of Tiger Screams cam at him, making him move faster than before. At the last one he had to make a large jump, larger than the ones had to do before.

"Had enough," Byakko growled. He raised his fist. Five white, thin blades appeared at each of his knuckles. Swinging his hand out in a horizontal motion, the blades flew toward Kuwabara. "Tiger Claw!"

They cut through Kuwabara's skin easily. There was nothing he could have done. He had only just put one foot down by the time the blades were about three feet away from him.

"What the - ?" Yusuke and I yelled.

Yusuke took a small step forward.

"Kuwabara, will you switch with me already?" Yusuke yelled at Kuwabara.

Kuwabara, however, ignored him and whipped some blood that was dripping down his cheek from a wound. "You ain't so bad."

"You surprise me; still fighting despite your frail human body," Byakko said.

Kuwabara scoffed. "Get used to it cause I'm not stopping till you die."

"That's very noble," Byakko said. "But you've already stopped. Like all my victims before you my Tiger Scream has proved too much."

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. He hadn't even touched him. Kuwabara was alive, how could he have been beaten?

"I don't know what you're talking," Kuwabara yelled. "You never hit me once! All those freakin' blasts and you missed me every single time!"

"Yes, but while you've been frantically running for your life, I've ensnared you."

I looked up at Kurama.

"What's he talking about?" I asked.

He gazed down at me before nodding his head over at Kuwabara. "Look closely at where Kuwabara is."

I turned my attention back to him. Squinting my eyes to try and pick something I might have missed, I analyzed him. Kuwabara wasn't hurt too badly. I didn't understand how could he have been caught there was no net or rope.

"Pay attention to what's around him. You'll see it."

I did as Kurama had said, looking at the area around Kuwabara.

'Kuwabara is a long way from the nearest pillar,' I thought absentmindedly. 'I wonder if he jump onto it….'

I jumped as I realized what Kurama was trying to point out. Kuwabara had nowhere to go. The only pillar near him was so far away that he might not even make the jump.

"Take a look around you, I've destroyed every pillar within your jumping reach," Byakko pointed out. "You have nowhere to go. Except for the pillar that I'm standing on; with all your efforts you might be able to reach me, but then I will kill you myself."

Oh, no.

"Once again I'll let you choose your way to die. Either burn up in the lava or be eaten by me."

Kuwabara shuffled his right foot toward the pillar that might have been reachable. He must have thought Byakko had forgotten that one. It was quickly destroyed by one of Byakko's Tiger Screams. Kuwabara jumped and took a step back.

"Sorry, the little ones are so easy to overlook," Byakko said. "You're trapped. Just accept it, it'll make the last moments easier."

"It's okay, Kuwabara, you've still got this," I yelled.

However, I wiped the sweat off of my forehead. The sweat wasn't from the heat.

"Kuwabara," Yusuke mumbled, equally concerned.

Kurama turned to Hiei. "Can you reach him, Hiei?"

"If need be," Hiei answered.

"You guys better stay put!"

Kuwabara glared at us from over his shoulder.

"You're whispering to each other about how you can rescue me, aren't you? How many times do I have to tell you I don't want your help?"

I shook my head. Kurama raised an eyebrow. Hiei looked, well, like he normally did (like an a**). Yusuke had the appearance of a boy who had just gotten a pair of socks for his birthday.

"I don't understand that guy. Doesn't he not realize he's about to die?" Yusuke said.

"Perhaps he's still devising an attack," Kurama suggested. Though, the idea didn't sound very true.

"Or, perhaps he's just giving himself confidence," I said. That didn't sound very convincing either.

"Perhaps he is a fool," Hiei added.

Yeah, sorry, but Hiei's sounded the most logical of it all. Though, 'fool' might not have been the word I would have used. It probably would have been 'stubborn guy'.

Kuwabara turned back to Byakko, chuckling. "Those guys are just anxious to fight. Don't worry about them."

Byakko simply laughed at what he had said. He probably believed that we were actually talking about rescuing him, and also how our faith in Kuwabara winning this was slowly dropping with each passing second.

"Idiot, they were your last chance to survive," he said.

His mouth started to glow with another Tiger Scream.

My pulse was quickening the more aura that was being used to create the Tiger Scream. The thoughts in my mind were sort of jumbling all together. Some part of me still believed Kuwabara could win this just like last time. Yet, it was the fear of him being defeated that led to this staggering faith in him. Maybe it would have been a good idea to let Hiei take Byakko on.

It most likely was the best idea.

The Tiger Scream came like a comet straight for Kuwabara. He was going to take the chance of jumping to Byakko.

"He's jumping," Kurama said, surprised by the fact that Kuwabara was willing to.

Kuwabara launched himself off the pillar just in time. Behind him, the pillar was destroyed. He raced through the air for at least six feet before he started to fall toward the lava.

"Kuwabara!"

His trajectory was only a few meters from Byakko's pillar.

"He didn't make it," Kurama exclaimed.

Kuwabara screamed as he fell through the air. I saw him raise his hand. It started to glow with his spirit energy. Was he going to call forth his Spirit Sword? I wasn't sure how helpful that was going to be at this point.

Byakko howled with laughter. "Actually, I lied! You could never have reached me!"

"You b******," I screamed.

As I watched Kuwabara bring out his Spirit Sword, I could only pray that Kurama was right. Kuwabara had to have a plan. He was smarter than what people gave him credit for. He couldn't die! He couldn't!

'Kuwabara!'

My eyes widened as Kuwabara made his Spirit Sword longer. He aimed it so that the end of it caught on a bottom of a broken pillar. Using it like it were a pole that launched someone over a bar, he sent himself flying up and out toward Byakko. He pulled his hand back as he neared Byakko.

Byakko was too stunned to respond as Kuwabara punched him across the face. My celebration was soon ended by the realization that they were both falling over the side of the pillar.

"Now let's go to hell together," Kuwabara yelled as they both disappeared over the edge.

Byakko fell into the lava. Smoke rose from the place where he had fallen into. He was no more.

And Kuwabara…

"Kuwabara!"

That was Yusuke and I.

"No… he can't…"

Yusuke couldn't properly form his sentence. I couldn't even speak. The ability to grasp this reality that Kuwabara had died was overwhelming for us. He died nobly. Kuwabara died so that we could move on and save the world.

It didn't feel like that, though. At that point, we didn't care about the world. As selfish as the thought was, all we cared about was that our friend was dead. Gone. Killed. Never to return.

"It's wrong," Yusuke said. He shut his eyes, turning his head away from the lair. "You can't die!" He fell to his knees. "It's all so stupid! I mean we're protecting the world, so who's protecting us!"

I put my head face down on my knees. The stinging in my eyes was coming back. My chest was clenching the way I didn't like it to.

"Hey!"

We all looked to where the voice came from.

"Can I get some help here?"

There was Kuwabara. He was dangling from the edge of the pillar. A piece of fabric had got caught on a piece of the pillar that was sticking out.

"Guys!"

I rose to my feet and brushed off the pain in my leg.

"Hey, can you hurry up? I think I can feel something slipping!"

Yusuke stared at the struggling Kuwabara. "He's alive?"

"How fortunate," Hiei commented.

I would have hit him, but I was too caught up in the relief.

"What are we waiting for? We better go get him," I said.

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, let's go get out idiot."

"Do you think that you could jump from pillar to pillar?" Kurama questioned me.

"Of course I can!"

"…Truly?"

"… Probably not."

I chuckled nervously. Scratching the back of my head, I turned to Yusuke.

"Mind if I get a piggy back?" I asked him.

"No, you're too heavy," he said. "I can't carry you."

I glared at him, my eye was starting to twitch. "Was that fat joke?"

"If the shoe fits, wear it."

"I am –"

Hiei interrupted our soon-to-be insult war. "Quit your arguing or he's going to fall before we can save him." He turned around and squatted right in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, questioning his actions.

"Are you getting on or not?" He growled.

I threw up my hands defensively. Stepping towards him, I started feeling a mix between awkwardness and annoyance. If Yusuke had only given me that piggyback ride, I wouldn't be getting one from the person I hate most in this group. I climbed on his back, immediately disliking of the close proximity between us. Hiei lifted me up off the ground easily, as if I were a pound of feathers.

I could feel his body temperature through his clothes. It was making things worse since it was already hot. I only grabbed onto his shoulders, not his neck, because, no, I wasn't going to cuddle up to this man that infuriated me by just breathing.

We quickly jumped over to the pillar Kuwabara was on.

"You had me scared, Kuwabara," Yusuke said while looking down at him. "For a second there, I though you bit the dust."

"Yeah, yeah, it's exciting now help me up," he shouted up at us.

"Well, an interesting strategy, maybe we should let you kill the other Beasts this way, too," Hiei commented.

I chuckled. It surprised me. I hadn't expected to find anything Hiei said particularly funny.

"Yes," Kurama agreed.

"No way, you guys! I've done my share of fighting for this trip! Now would you please stop goofing around and help me up!"

"But we can't, Kuwabara, don't you remember?" Yusuke said. "You said you'd kill us if we helped you."

"I think I recall something like that," I agreed.

"Yes, it goes against your honor code," Kurama added, too.

"But that doesn't count! It was okay if I beat him, you see?!"

"Well, got two more Saint Beasts we got to fight. Might as well get going," Yusuke said.

"Yes," Kurama said.

"We'll catch up with you later, Kuwabara! Hang in there!"

"You got it, Kuwabara! I promise a free sundae at the café once we come back to get you!"

"Hey, come on, guys! Wait! No, no, no!"

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long update, but I've been busy with sports and school like you have no idea. Any who, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Be expecting an extra chapter of sorts that explains how Erine met Yusuke and Kuwabara. It is not necessary to read, but it could be enjoyable.


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